


A bloke's gotta try

by Mr_Motley



Category: Misfits (TV 2009)
Genre: 3rd season characters aren't here except Seth, Fix-It, M/M, Mpreg, Pining, Series Rewrite, Some fluff finally, Superpowered fetus, Time Travel, Weird, Yeah seems time to add that tag, fic vomit at first but it'll find it's pacing, i don't know it got weird, no beta we die like men, no one dies, possible gender confusion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 10:48:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 49,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23849953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Motley/pseuds/Mr_Motley
Summary: Starts at mention of tattoo episode and goes from there, basically started as rewrite from Nathan's perspective sort of, then does its own thing after they sell their powers.(Idk man. Good luck.)Story mostly ends after ch 14, but imma keep going anyways
Relationships: Simon Bellamy/Nathan Young
Comments: 35
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

Yes, ok? It was the tattoo! That's what consumed his every thought since. Sure, he played it off the same way he did everything, it was fine for now. If he really couldn't get it off his mind, he'd go insane for sure, but right now, it was fine.  
He got through the whole week just fine, and now he had all weekend to figure it all out.  
Nathan banged against the vending at somewhere near two in the morning. He had to stop thinking about it. He left the community center earlier than usual, walking until the sun came up.  
"Fucking cunt" 

Saturday night played out much the same, until Nathan found himself staring in the mirror, a threatening air about him.

"You're not in love!" He told his reflection sternly.  
"He's weird and you want kids! two men can't have babies."  
An image of Nathan and Simon holding an infant crept into his head. Clearly Nathan would be papa, and Simon would be daddy. Simon would definitely be Daddy.  
That train of thought jumped off track and straight to the gutter. Nathan almost whined into the mirror.  
"I can't be in love. That's insane."  
After another sleepless night, Nathan again left before sunrise. There wasn't much to do when you had no money and no where to be, so there wasn't much Nathan could do to keep avoiding these thoughts. He laid in the grass at the local park.  
'Ok, so I still love him, even after the tattoo. So what now? Seduce him and live happily ever after?' Nathan laughed around his cigarette smoke. This was fucking insane. There had to be another way. As the sun began to set, Nathan resolved to drink it off, get some sleep, and ignore everything tomorrow.  
He woke early with a blursed hangover that made it difficult to think straight. He prepared himself for a lengthy spiel about some fictional rager that the others had missed out on. But when he finally joined the others in the locker room, something was off...

"Hey." The hippy grinned.

"Who's the new guy?" Curtis asks as the probation worker walked in.

"What's your name?"

"It's Ollie." He said a little hurt.

"Are you saying he's a new member of the gang?" Nathan asked. It was perfect, just what he needed to keep his mind off of Simon.  
Of course, it barely worked for an hour before some psycho was asking them about a conti, and Nathan was teasing Simon. The universe gives, and the universe takes away. If he had just kept himself distracted by the new guy, maybe things wouldn't have gone so far downhill. But he was running with Simon, imagining it being Simon who got shot. Fearing for life like he never did even before he was immortal.  
"Better him than me."

"You're immortal."

"Better him than one of you." And he meant it. He couldn't imagine losing Simon.  
Almost a week later, the psycho took Kelly. His best friend. And Nathan, naturally, took it out on Simon. Simon has to fix this. But instead, the guy in the mask gave them the answer. It was really a toss up between the guy and the mask, and Simon. Who would save them first?  
So they were playing video games, and Simon suggests they rob a bank. If Nathan wasn't in love before, it sure hit him right there. Simon got the money-  
"How was it?"

"Very easy." -Nathan could have kissed him then.

Simon was actually cool, right up until he tried to slide the money over to the psycho. Nathan could have laughed.  
The meat hooks and chainsaw were terrifying, but clear-of-mind as ever, Simon managed to get Nathan to do the right thing. Nathan would have, eventually, he was sure. But it might not have been in time for everyone.  
Somehow they survived, but Nathan would be dead just a week later. Of course he laughed it off as usual, played the fool to distract himself, and hopefully everyone else. The last thing he needed was for Kelly to start asking him about his recent obsession.  
When his killer started flirting with his Simon, Nathan might have lost it a little. 

"So you think that if a girl likes me there must be something wrong with her?" Simon asked, disappointment oozing out of him.

"No, that's not what we're saying." Alisha was quick to defend.

"Isn't it?" Nathan asked, surprised at the turn of this little intervention he had orchestrated.

"No!"

"I thought that was exactly what we were saying." If someone liked Simon, there had to be something wrong with them, I mean, just look at Nathan. Psyching himself out by watching spider documentaries probably wasn't helping. But the tall smiley girl had to be a killer. She couldn't just... Have Simon. Nathan was going to prove it. This wasn't who Simon was meant to be with. There Was something wrong with her.  
When another body showed up, Nathan called Simon. Simon has to fix this, he couldn't just... Nathan called Kelly next, but she didn't answer either. Alisha it is. She'd been sticking up for Simon for weeks now. She'd have to help him.

"Maybe I like him more than I let on." Nathan had said.

"Maybe I do too." Alisha retorted. There had been something off about her recently. But now Nathan was starting to think they were pretty alike.

"Little bastard gets under your skin, doesn't he?"  
Then the killer was holding Simon's hand; Kissing Him. Jealously aches in Nathan's chest. He explained his fear with a joke, and Alisha seemed right there with him. When Simon discovered them, and Nathan explained the dead body, he was feeling pretty good about it. But the facts weren't adding up, and Simon saw it. 

"Maybe you're just jealous." He had said. A pain hit Nathan in the gut. He tried to laugh it off.  
"Look at me: beautiful. Look at you: not so much." Why would Nathan want Simon? Logically he shouldn't. But Christ he did. And Simon was in real danger.

Alisha stayed for a beer and they ended up talking shit about the girl all night. Nathan teases her about being interested in Simon, but she just laughed sadly.

"No, he's not the one for me." She almost teared up at that, before saying a polite goodnight, and that they'd convince the others and save Simon right.  
The next night they were dressed as superheroes, and somehow Nathan and Alisha were bonding even more.  
"Nice costume." Nathan bit out sarcasticly.

"Uh, She looks like a slut."

"Yeah, little slutty murdering psychopath." So they both sounded jealous, but at least they were jealous together; even if they'd both swear otherwise.  
The two of them got split up, and that's when Nathan saw Kelly getting carried up the side of a building by someone in a gorilla costume. Alisha was going after Simon, but no one else knew about Kelly. Nathan ran.

"Why is a gorilla in a gorilla costume?" He asked as Kelly cried over it. It confused him, but he was there for her. The two walked back to the community center, standing at their place on the roof.

"I finally meet a guy I really like and he turns out to be a fucking monkey." 

"Gorilla, technically." And hey, Nathan could relate. Simon might not be a monkey, but he was definitely an ass. At that thought Kelly gave him a look. Luckily the others joined them on the roof before it became a conversation. Nathan made a joke, tried not to let his heart clench knowing Simon lost his virginity, and at the end of the day, everything seemed fine. 

\----------

The next morning they gathered in the locker room, getting ready. At lest until Curtis got that look like he just shat himself.

"There's something we have to do." The five of them piled in Curtis' car.

"So what exactly is the plan?" Nathan asks as they ring the doorbell. A small mousey looking guy opens the door. 

"Can I help-" he began, but Curtis punches him out before he could finish.

"That felt good." Curtis huffed, before turning to the others.  
"Load him in the boot."

"Oh, so murder. Yeah ok." Nathan shrugged, already going to drag the guy over.

"You said he sent in recordings." Simon almost asked.

"Can you find them?" Alisha asks. Simon nods.

"Ok, the four of you take care of the body, I'll take care of any evidence, and meet you at the community center tonight." Simon explained, always with the plans. He turned invisible, and shut the door behind him. The plan was going well, but as they approached their typical body dump under the bridge, they'd all wish Simon was with them.  
A large "thump-thump!" Was heard from the boot, before the mousey-guy was yelling from inside.

"Hey! Hey, let me out!"

"Well let this be a lesson." Nathan began casually.  
"Kill the body Before loading it in the boot." He flashed a charming smile at the other three apprehensive faces in the car.  
The following scene was... messy. Armed with a tire wrench, an umbrella, and shear terror, the four opened the trunk. They guy flailed and tripped as he tried to run. Several whacks and kicks and screams later, they finally subdued him by Alisha's touch. After that, it was pretty grotesque.  
The four sat panting around the-surprisingly scrappy-mousey guy. Or, his body, rather.

"Definitely kill first, boot after." Alisha agreed. It took a while to dig the grave exactly how Simon had taught them the first time-"It has to be deep. Anything less than six feet and some wild animals could dig it up."-but as it got dark, they finally got back in the car. Even Nathan was too winded to say anything. It was a quiet drive back to the community center. Finally Curtis parked, and shut his lights off. 

"Well that could have gone better." Nathan offered. No one replied, just piled out of the car and to the main doors. Before they could enter, Simon appeared, gaping at them.

"Is that his blood?" He asked. The four looked at each other, taking full note of the blood sweat and grave dirt coating each of them.  
"Just, wash it off, we'll have to bleach the clothes and scrub the showers after." Simon explained, with a scrunched face.

"Thanks killer, I could really use a shower." Nathan grinned, slapping a hand on Simon's shoulder with one hand and ruffling Simon's hair with the other. Simon flinched and flailed our of his grip.

"What is wrong with you." Simon huffed, looking at the handprint shaped splotch of evidence on his shoulder. Nathan grinned cheekily, and went to pass him to the door.

After their showers, the five spent the night cleaning the community center as well as Curtis' car.  
They were tired, and agitated, but Simon still made the plan, Nathan still teased Simon, and they still got everything done before sunrise. They all sat along the wall outside, catching their breath.

"Well that was an exhausting 24 hours." Nathan huffed, stretching a leg over Simon's. Simon almost laughed. 

"After today, it's only two more days left." Simon mused.

"What?" Nathan asked, turning a little dramatically.  
"I thought that was yesterday."

"It was, but we all left before the probation worker even got there." Simon explained with a frown. 

\-------

"Seriously? This is it? I kept thinking, there's another day, another hour, left, before community service is over. There's still time for another psychopathic murderer or at least one less probation worker, but here we are! Completely uneventful!" Nathan complained.

"You're upset we didn't have to kill anyone else?" Simon teased.

"Yes! It's over. No more community service. And I have no job, no money, no girlfriend. Ok, so I'm immortal, but other than that I basically have fuck all going for me." Nathan complained. Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Does anyone fancy a drink?"

"Yeah, sure man. You know apart from all the killing and dying and stuff, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be."

\--------

The five met for drinks every Friday night. Curtis even started bringing his girlfriend, Nikki.  
The group dynamics didn't change much. Simon was still awkward, Curtis and Nikki we're still all over each other, Kelly was still Nathan's best friend; But Alisha was still quiet, still different. So one night, Nathan brought it up to her. The two of them were smoking outside the pub as the others socialized inside.

"So you've been a raging cunt for a while now. What's up with that?" Nathan tried. She flicked her cigarette at him.  
"Hey! I just mean you're different! Jaysus!" She sighed, leaning onto the railing.

"You remember that guy in the mask?" She asked quietly.

"Oh yeah, what ever happened to that guy?" 

"He died. The night that psycho had us all on meathooks." She was trembling a little.

"Damn." Nathan said, unsure what else he could say.

"I got to know him, you know, before." She took out another cigarette, before offering Nathan one. Nathan took it, tucking it behind his ear as he finished his first one.

"Who was he?" Nathan asked. Of course it didn't matter now, but it felt like what he was suppose to ask. Alisha smiled softly.

"The only man I'll ever love, I think." She nearly whispered. Nathan hummed in response, unsure what other support he could give. There was a comfortable silence stretching out.

"If you could bring someone back, but, it wasn't really them, would you?" She asked. 

"Like pet cemetery? Nah. Too much work." Nathan replied. Alisha almost laughed. 

"No, more like, a clone. But one that doesn't remember." She seemed nervous, shy.

"No." Nathan replied after a minute.  
"It wouldn't be the same." He wondered if he met a clone of Simon, one who had no idea who he was. But one that might want him. No, no, it wasn't his Simon.

"Yeah, that's how I see it." She replied softly.

The following Tuesday night, Nathan was walking from his latest botched job interview, when he saw the sign. A large mural on the wall read "we buy and sell powers" Nathan stared at it for a moment, before pulling out his cell.

"Why are you calling me?" Alisha greeted, as she normally does when Nathan calls.

"It might be a long shot, but I think there's something you might want to see."

Nathan and Alisha stood outside the door anxiously, before Alisha knocked.

"I'm here about my power?" Some skinny bloke lead them in down the hall. He gestures them in to the near clinical room, and the man seated at the glass desk.

"So what can you do?" The man asked as Alisha took a seat.

"Anyone who touches me," Alisha started nervously.  
"Wants to shag me, it's like they get super horny or something."

"I can see how that might be a problem. How much do you want for it?"

"Oh, I-I don't want anything, I just want it gone. Can you do that?" Alisha asked. Nathan began gesturing wildly.

"Now hold on a second. The mans offering money, real money." Nathan huddled close to Alisha.  
"Let's think about this!" He nearly pleaded, before turning to the man.

"Five-no! Six! Thousand!" He says, trying to exude confidence.

"I do business with powers only. So, unless you've got a power to sell, I'm talking to the lady." He smirked.

"Oh, no. You aren't taking my power, mines straight off the A-list!" Nathan explained, nearly recoiling.

"Just take it." Alisha sighed.  
"How does it work?"

"Just give me your hand."

Afterwards Alisha was nearly bouncing down the street, tugging on Nathan, holding his hand, laughing freely.

"Thank you for this Nathan." She smiled.

"Hey don't thank me, unless it's with money! But, seeing as you just gave it away for free!" He huffed.

"We've got to tell the others!" A few urgent texts later, and they were all meeting at the pub.

"This guy, on the estate, he took my power."

"How?" Curtis asked, Alisha just shrugged with a smile.

"Don't know, but it's gone."

"What's he going to do with it?" Simon asked.

"Not my problem." Alisha replies, too caught in the high to care.  
"I can finally have my life back. I can kiss and shag and hit Nathan when he's being a wanker!" She laughed.  
"This is a good thing!" She told them.

"She didn't even take the money." Nathan huffed.

"Are you saying we can just sell our powers?" Kelly asked.

"If you think about it, they're just doing us more harm than good." Curtis added in.

"No, we shouldn't, we have these powers for a reason!" Simon objected.

"A reason? What have we ever done that had any reason behind it?" Nathan laughed.

"Besides, I don't know if anyone's noticed, but we aren't exactly living the dream." Nikki cut in.  
"We should go see this guy, see what he offers us. It's at least worth the conversation."

"You can't be serious." Simon gaped.

"You don't have to come with." Nikki shrugged.

"Just wait, at least until tomorrow." Simon practically begged.

"Alright." Kelly shrugged.  
"Tomorrow night we meet back here, and Alisha and Nathan can bring us there." They all said their goodbyes, and Kelly offered to walk Nathan home.

"I can't believe you'd want to sell your power." Nathan started.

"Why? You think I like hearing every vulgar thought you think about Simon?" Kelly asked. Nathan gaped, blush quickly rising.

"That is private!" He retorted.

"Please. It's all you've been thinking about for months. It's not just that, though. I hear Curtis and Nikki thinking about each other every time I see them, and don't get me started on Alisha. It's just too much, ya know?" She shrugged.

"Yeah I guess. Still I wouldn't let go of mine. Maybe for a clean mil, but not a penny less!"

"Nah, you'd be fucked without yours. You die way too often."

"Hey, I'll have you know I've only died once since community service ended! And before my immortality, I never died! I'll be fine." He scoffed. Kelly just laughed. 

\--------  
The next night they all met at the pub as planned. Nathan and Alisha led the way, and Simon hung back.

"Oi, Barry, you coming or what?" Nathan yells back to him.

"G-Go on ahead." Simon replied, trying for a reassuring smile. As the others turned back, Simon turned invisible.

\-------  
"Whoo!" Nathan nearly squealed.  
"20 grand each! I knew this was a good idea!" He giggled slightly before placing a wet kiss against the money.

The group went back to the pub, talking excitedly about how they'd each spend their money.  
"Fuck this talking nonsense, we can finally do exstasy again! We should definitely be drinking somewhere a little more lively than this!" Nathan exclaimed. Kelly laughed.

"I can't! I can't! I gotta see my mum in the morning. How about Friday? We'll meet at the club this week instead."

"Sounds like a party!" Nathan grinned. The five went their separate ways a few drinks later, and Nathan took out his phone, sending a quick text to Simon.

'Friday we're meeting at the club instead.'  
'Drugs!'

Nathan laughed a little as he pocketed his phone and crawled through the community center window.  
The rest of the week went well. Nathan ate good food and drank cold beer.  
For a while, everything was fucking roses.  
Nathan pushes his way through the crowd on Friday night, heading to the group's usual table. Only, he isn't sure what happened after that, only that Simon was standing over him in the alley outside, looking equal parts terrified and terrifying. It was weirdly hot.

"Barry?" Nathan asked, his head beginning to clear up. Simon looked confused, or maybe concerned.

"That guy, he has Alisha's power." Simon told him sternly. 

\--------------

"They're calling him Jesus." Simon told the others as they met outside the community center.  
"He has Alisha's power, and others! He's buying powers and using people. There are three deaths I can connect to him and no one is doing anything." Simon slammed the obituaries and newspaper clippings on the picnic bench.

"Calm down, you don't know it was him." Curtis scoffed.

"Hey, as the man that was almost raped by this bloke I say we need to step in." Nathan interjected.

"How, we don't got any powers." Kelly asked, nearly condescending, but for her it was more concerned.

"If you did, would you help?" Simon asked. The group looked around at each other uneasily. Simon looked at them all in disappointment and shock.  
"Your useless!" He nearly yelled before turning to storm off.

"Simon where are you going?" Alisha asked after him.

"I'm going to kill Jesus."

\-------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pacing is real off for the first chapter or two, but it gets better once the story direction gets iffy. Idk. I'm always fiending for more from this pairing so this just happened.  
> Got a few more chapters written already, but I haven't done this in a long fucking time, so. Who knows. Quarantine is weird. Hope you somehow enjoy it anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

Nathan couldn't sleep. That Jesus guy was going to be there in the morning, along with his devoted followers.  
Nathan waited outside the community center until Jesus and his followers were inside. Simon would be here soon. He had to be. Simon would fix this.  
He rubbed his hands together against the cold.  
"Come on you beautiful twat, rescue me already!" He hissed to himself.

"I really don't know what to say to that." Simon replied, appearing out of thin air. Nathan jumped.

"Wanker! You can't sneak up on a damsel in distress like that!" Nathan exclaimed, sounding rather disappointed.

"Right. Well I can't just kill him in broad daylight, I'll have to be invisible and follow him after. You shouldn't be here, you've been a target for him before." Simon, always with the plan. 

"Well you still shouldn't go alone." Nathan said before thinking. Really he shouldn't have said that. He shouldn't be sounding like he cares this much. Before he could correct himself, Curtis' car pulled in.

"Oi, are we here in time?" Kelly asked as she got out.

"You guys don't have your powers, you shouldn't be here." Simon protested.

"We don't all have powers." Curtis corrected with a shrug. Alisha stepped forward, showing her hand as flames danced across it.

"We pooled our money." Nikki explained.

"That prick charged double, and said our powers were already bought up, but we figured we could still help out." Curtis shrugged.

"Alisha's got fire, and I've got ice." Kelly smiled, showing her hand as well.

"That's..." Simon started.

"Well fuck me." Nathan summed up.

"Finally got to know what a power's suppose to feel like." Alisha smiled.

"So how do we get this jerk?" Kelly asked.

"I.." Simon gaped at them.  
"I'm not sure. I was going to follow him after he leaves, wait until he's alone." 

"And then call out the fire and ice!" Nathan supplied.  
"It's perfect."

"It's not." Simon frowned.  
"I can do this, just wait for my call to help with the body." He told them in a hushed tone.

"Right. Of course." Alisha rolled her eyes.

"We can help you know." Kelly scoffed.

"I-I know, but I think stealth is the right way." Simon explained.

"But what if he catches you, ya? You need back up." Kelly told him definitively.

"We're not letting you go in alone!" Nathan summed up, a little over dramatic.

"F-fine. Ok. Then we need a new plan." Simon nodded, thinking it through.  
"We wait until everyone leaves, and lure him back into the community center." He starts.

\-----------

"I killed someone." Alisha told him, a little dazed. Simon's hand was on her shoulder as the group stood around Jesus' charred corpse.

"I'm sorry." Simon told her. The plan was for Simon to kill him, Kelly and Alisha were just suppose to lay down cover and create the distraction.  
They found Jesus' stash of donations in the locker rooms. Enough to buy them a power each. Aside from Alisha and Kelly, who kept fire and ice, the others were excited to find a new power, excited to leave their old powers behind. Nathan took shape shifting. Curtis took healing, and Nikki took super speed.  
Maybe they could be superheroes yet. On the walk back, Nathan hovered near Alisha.

"Care for a drink?" He asked her.

"Uh, you know I don't think of you like that." She scoffed.

"Cunt! As friends! Sisters! Confidants!" He defended loudly. Alisha shrugged with a small smile.

"Sure." The group went their separate ways, and Alisha followed Nathan back to the community center. 

"Surprised you haven't shape shifted yet. I had to test out my power right off the bat." 

"Well I wasn't planning on getting a strange new power! Excuse me for not learning the ropes all to quick."

"Yikes, you in a mood? Because I'm the one who just killed someone." Alisha bit back. Nathan sighed.

"You told me about the guy in the mask." He started. He knew he wanted to have this conversation, but words and feelings were just hard.

"Yeah." Alisha replies after a minute, much softer.

"You were in love with him?" Nathan asked, trying to match her gentler tone.

"In a way I still am. But it's easier to step back from it now."

"What if I was in love?" He said, in an awkward way he had not meant to say it.

"What if?" Alisha asked.  
"I told you I'm not interested." She pulled a face at him.

"Not with you, you wretch, with Barry!" He hissed back. Well, better to just be out with it. Alisha started at him for a moment.

"You got another tattoo?"

"No! This has been a thing, I mean for a while. Since the tattoo, really, but look: I'm asking advise here." Nathan huffed.

"Is that what you're doing?" Alisha asked.  
"In a weird way it makes sense." The two were quiet for a minute.

"So any thoughts?" Nathan asked, nudging her shoulder. 

"Ask him out." She shrugged.

"I can't just ask him out!" Nathan protested, wildly surprised by her.  
"It's gotta be seductive and passionate and he's gotta fall in my arms, or preferably have me fall in his!" He whined. Alisha just laughed.

"Then bring him flowers. Pink lilacs are his favorite." She smiled, patting Nathan on the arm as she got up.  
"I should go. But good luck, Nathan. Really."

\-----  
The next day Nathan called Simon anxiously.

"Nathan? Is something wrong?" Simon asked.

"Barry! Just the guy I wanted to talk to!" Nathan greeted, gently poking the lilacs he nicked from the local flower shop.  
"Come for a drink tonight! Around 7? We'll meet at the club!" And after that Nathan quickly hung up. If Simon didn't say no, he'd definitely be there. Nathan cleaned himself up best he could, even shaving new parts, just in case.  
He waited for Simon at the bar, keeping the small bundle of lilacs hidden. His heart raced when he finally saw Simon walking through the crowd.

"Barry!" Nathan greeted, handing over a beer.

"Where are the others?" Simon asked suspiciously.

"What? No, it's just us! Come on sit down!" Nathan knew he was acting weird, but he couldn't stop himself.

"Oh-ok." Simon sat next to him, looking a little more strained.

"You know what, no, it's so loud in here, let's step outside." Nathan stood up, leading the way out. Simon followed with a slight huff. Nathan knew what he wanted to say, he knew he just had to say it. But then Simon had this very freaked out expression and was leaving quite quickly. Nathan didn't really get to say anything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter but here it is. Thanks for the support, it definitely feels weird doing this again lol. Usually I'm just the annon to leave kudos, so I guess it's about time I contribute to my otp in some way. Talk to you guys tomorrow, or you know, whenever. Happy quarantine


	3. Chapter 3

Nathan groaned into his pillow as he prayed for sleep. He just had to stop thinking about Simon for an hour and he'd be fine. Of course that wasn't likely. A loud 'Bang' startled Nathan to his feet. He tipped toed down the stairs, and peeked out the window leading to the hall. Oh, awesome. That's a dead body. Nathan tried to sneak away, maybe hide in the probation workers office, but a hand grabbed him to his feet before he could get far.

"Barry?" Nathan gaped.

"We need to leave!" Simon hissed back, taking Nathan by the hand and running.

"Who are these guys?" Nathan asked as they darted around the corridor.

"Bad guys." Simon grumbled back. Nathan could feel his heart hammering in his chest, but his stupid brain could only register that he was half naked being lead by the hand by a gorgeously disheveled Simon. Simon pushed him into a closet. Oh irony. Simon shhed him, although he hadn't said anything.  
"Just stay here, I'll distract them while the others get here." Nathan watched through the slits in the door as Simon left. Nathan backed slowly into the wall. What the hell, why was it always Nathan, why was it always the community center? He held his breath as a loud set of footprints approached him, and almost squeaked when the brute ripped open the door. The bad guy scanned the closet, eyes going right over Nathan. And then the guy was being invisibly stabbed to death.

"That goes on the crazy list." Nathan said, popping out, somewhat in a daze. Simon reappeared, gaping at Nathan.

"You can shapeshift into a mop?" Simon asked. Nathan wasn't sure he had, and was pretty confused, but bad guy number two had turned the corner.

"Look out!" Nathan grabbed Simon, pushing him down the hall and running after him.

"Nathan, I can handle these guys! You need to get somewhere safe!" Simon ordered.

"oh sure, let me just try the front door, you twat!" Besides, Simon had said the others were on their way. Nathan wasn't about to just leave them. They ran, almost to the corner when a gunshot sounded. Nathan watched almost in slow motion as Simon fell beside him. Nathan nearly fell with him, instinctively pulling Simon closer.  
"No, no no no, Simon, you can't..." Nathan nearly stuttered. There was so much blood, Simon was gasping, he...

"Nathan, run." Simon ordered through wheezing breaths.  
"I've got your immortality I'm fine. Run." Simon ordered again, pushing Nathan. Somehow Nathan got to his feet and turned the corner.   
'He's got my immortality, he-he's fine. He's fine.' Nathan ran, just as the front doors opened and the others arrived.

"Nathan!" Kelly gasped  
"That blood-it's one of theirs, right?" Nathan looked down numbly. 

"He-he said he has my immortality. He'll be-he'll be fine." Nathan repeated, his own voice growing more distant.

"Come on, let's kill these fuckers." Kelly interrupted. They moved as a group and killed the last two guys swiftly.

"We got to bury all these bodies?" Nikki asked.

"You get use to it." Curtis sighed.

"Nathan?" Kelly asked, concerned.

"I'm gonna stay with him, you know, until he wakes up." Nathan nearly dragged himself down the hallways, until he found Simon-cold, glass like-sitting against the wall. Nathan just stared for a while.

"Nathan?" Kelly asked again. Nathan didn't realize anyone had followed him, but he couldn't look away from Simon, dead, at least for now.

"He has my immortality." Nathan breathed out, reassuring them both.

"I know. But we shouldn't leave him here." Kelly places a hand gently on Nathan's arm.

"We can take him to my room. Give him something of a bed to wake up in." Nathan offered. Because Simon would wake up. He said so. He wouldn't lie about that. Nathan hesitantly reaches out, attempting to lift Simon bridal style.

"Careful-Nathan! Uhg, just let me help." Nathan ended up carrying Simon from under the arms, while Kelly got the legs. They brought the thin mattress down to the main floor to lay Simon down easier. Then Nathan sat next him, still unable to look away.

"Nathan? Look, I'm, I'm going to help the others. He'll be ok, yeah?"   
Nathan waited. At one point he went to hold Simon's hand but it was cold. He recoiled instinctively. Eventually he heard Curtis' car drive off. Nathan held himself tighter. After too long, color flooded Simon's face and the depth returned to his eyes with a gasp. Nathan reaches out, pulling Simon into a hug.

"You twat." Nathan couldn't help but think of how far gone in love he was. How he couldn't bare losing Simon. How scared he was.

"You-you can let go now." Simon said weakly. Nathan let go, backing off, but keeping one hand on Simon's shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing with My Immortality?!" Nathan scolded.

"You-you sold it." Simon reminded him.

"So what, you just go around using another man's power?!" 

"I didn't buy them to use them, I bought them so you all could get them back! I told you I think we were given these powers for a reason!" Simon defended, getting to his feet.

"What do you mean them? How many powers do you have there?" Nathan asked.

"Nathan you could have died tonight." Simon said seriously.  
"Come with me to Seth's, and take your immortality back." He pleaded.

"You're just going to give me my immortality, huh?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, that's why I bought it!"

"And how exactly did you buy it?" Nathan accused. Simon seemed a little caught off guard, a light blush crossed his face.

"I just, robbed another bank." He admitted sheepishly. Nathan almost laughed, hating the intense reaction his heart gave at that.

"Ok. Fine. We'll go back to that power dick." Nathan huffed.   
"Just let me grab some pants." As the two walked, Nathan replayed their conversation in his head.  
"You didn't answer, how many powers do you have?" Nathan asked again.

"Everyone's. Except Alisha's." Simon shrugged. Nathan gaped.

"So you've been reading minds and time traveling and teleporting and being immortal all week?" Nathan wasn't sure if he was offended or impressed.

"No, I mean I can't really control any of them. I guess I've used them all at least once, now, but never on purpose." 

"Well that's it, your giving me something else, too." Nathan bargained.

"What? Why?"

"Because you're just hording them! Look, just give me Kelly's, and if she wants it back, I'll give it back!" 

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Simon replies, patting his hair down awkwardly.

"Come on, you twat, what safer place to keep it then in someone who's immortal?" Nathan flourished.

"I-ok. Fine. But just yours and Kelly's." Simon huffed.   
They got to the door, and the small man lead them inside.

"Simon, I see you talked one of your friends into it." Seth said with a smile.  
"Looks like you've had quite the night." He gestured you their bloodied clothes, and the bullet holes in Simon's shirt.

"Just give him his immortality and Kelly's mind reading." Simon said, holding one hand out to Seth and gesturing for Nathan to do the same. Nathan hesitatingly followed suit, and that was that. A ringing came through his mind before he was hearing a string of foreign sentences. 

"What?" Nathan asked, a little dazed.

"I said come on, we're done here." Simon lead Nathan out, hand gently on Nathan's arm.  
"Are you ok?" He asked Nathan, once they were about a block down the way.

"Peachy." Nathan replied. The two walked together for a while, before Simon put his hand on Nathan's arm again.

"Do you have somewhere else to go tonight?" Simon asked.

"Yeah of course, I just live at the community center for kicks." Nathan joked.

"It's just, you probably shouldn't be there tonight; the break in, and-" Simon stuttered a little.

"Well I'm open to suggestions, truly." Nathan retorted. Simon sighed.

"You could-just for tonight-stay at mine?" Simon offered. Nathan gaped.

"Are you propositioning me, Barry?! Because I am not that kind of girl!" Nathan bit back. Simon sighed again.

"I just thought-you know what, nevermind, that was a bad idea."

"Well no, hang on, now. What kind of mattress are we talking?" Nathan asked. Simon smiles, gesturing down the road.

"Pretty sure I have some leftover lasagna too."

"Better be more then just Pretty sure."

\--------  
The night was fun. Simon and Nathan fell into an easy banter, ate dinner at the table, Nathan may have blushed a few times, not that he'd ever admit it, but all in all it went rather smoothly. Just two friends, hanging out. Afterwards, Simon set up an air mattress for himself, as Nathan climbed into Simon's bed. Nathan practically moaned as he settled in. Simon chuckled lightly. 

"I'm glad you took your power back." Simon said as the night sunk in.

"I'm glad you had it." Nathan replied. The long string of foreign sentences hadn't slowed since the power shop, but they were so clearly Simon's voice; Simon's thoughts. Nathan sighed comfortably. Simon was fine. He was alive. He could hear the thoughts to prove it.   
Nathan woke with a start. Another nightmare. He glanced over to Simon sleeping peacefully across the room. If only he could hear dreams, too. Nathan settles back in, watching Simon sleep until he dozed back off.   
When he woke up next, he smelled bacon. Nathan's stomach growled angrily. Nathan glance across the room, where the air mattress had already been tidied up. With a sigh, Nathan made his way downstairs, to the inviting smell of breakfast.

"G-Good morning." Simon almost blushed.  
"Breakfast?"

"I'm starved." Nathan nodded. The two ate in silence, both in their early morning daze. Nathan enjoyed the background noise of Simon's thoughts all strung together in some other language, until, just by chance, some started filtering through in English. Just fragments.

'-should just talk-he said he was in love with me-how did he know about the flowers-won't even remember-turned back time-kissed me-' Nathan was trying to keep cool. Not let on that he heard anything. But let's be honest, he was shit at that.

"I have to go." Nathan practically jumped to his feet, startling Simon.

"Where?" Simon asked as Nathan tore up the stairs to grab his things.

"Oh places, so many places!" Nathan replied instantly before slipping out the door.  
That was awkward. He flipped open his phone to see the slew of messages. The last message was Kelly saying he and Simon better be safe and just fucking morons. Nathan laughed, sending out a quick group text to let everyone know they were both fine. Then Nathan called Alisha. They met on the roof of the community center, both just smoking in silence for a while.

"Yesterday was pretty fucked." Alisha finally said.

"Yeah. Simon's fine. And he gave me my immortality back. The prick." 

"What even happened with you two? One day you're planning on asking him out, the next we get a text from Simon to come save you." Alisha asked. Nathan shrugged.  
'Did he die in Nathan's arms? At least his came back.' Alisha's thoughts were sad, even the mundane ones. 

"I didn't get the chance to do anything. Bastard turned back time after I did, and just ran. I wouldn't even know he had any idea if I didn't hear him thinking about it." Nathan huffed.

"Wait, what? You have Kelly's power? And Simon has the time travel power?"   
'No, this can't be it, why would he go back now?'

"Wait, what? Why would he go back where?" Nathan asked. Alisha sighed, taking her time before answering.

"The... the guy in the mask." Alisha was almost shaking.  
"He was Simon. A future version of him, at least." There was this sharp silence as Nathan absorbed that information. Of course.

"Of course!" He huffed out.   
"It always was a toss up, which of them would save us first. Of course they're the same guy." Nathan laughed, but it was all still hitting him.  
"You fell in love with Simon?"

"Not this Simon. He... he's not the same. It's not the same. My Simon wanted me to be with this one, like the future version of me was with him. But, I don't know." Alisha pulled her jacket around herself a little tighter. 

"Doesn't that, break space and time or some nerdy shit?" Nathan asked. Alisha shrugged.

"My Simon would have said so. But... I don't love this Simon. I can't just do what I don't want to do out of fear of losing something that's already gone." 

"That's deep." Nathan replied. The two stared out over the city.

"So what's it like reading minds?" She asked.

"Simon only really thinks in Latin." Nathan pouted. Alisha chuckled.

"It's Italian. His grandma doesn't speak English very well and he spent every summer with her until he was 13." Alisha replies.

"Wow. You really got to know him." Nathan frowned.  
"But you told me to ask him out." 

"I told you. He's not my Simon. But maybe he's yours." She shrugged.

"I don't think so. Rewinding time so I never come on to him is a pretty hard no." Nathan tried to laugh about it.

"That's shit. He should of just had a conversation with you." Alisha said. Another comfortable moment of silence.

"I guess if he's turning me down it doesn't really matter how he's doing it."

"Nah. You deserve more than that from him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Starting to get a little less word-vomit-y. Love ya guys, stay safe and pet your dogs. Or cats. Or play some Pokémon or some shit. Later


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the week crept by, and on Friday, they all met up at the pub.

"You had so much blood to clean up." Kelly told Simon.

"And four huge guys? We had to run them out in shifts." Alisha added in.

"I was thinking, if you could control your powers we could try to start cremating them." Simon told Alisha. Alisha crinkled her nose.  
"Might be easier."

"Guess it's too much to hope those would be the last dead guys we have to deal with, huh?" The six continued to catch up and socialize, but Nathan was quieter. Of course Simon had known about Nathan's feelings. Nathan was never especially subtle, and Simon had been able to read his mind.   
If he really knew for that long, why couldn't he just talk about it, like Alisha had said? Nathan doesn't know why he was obsessing. It was a no, loud and clear. He would want someone like Alisha, not someone like him.

"Uh, Nathan? You alright?" Kelly asked skeptically.   
'You're turning into a woman.' Nathan looked at her in surprise. Shapeshifting! Of course! 

"Quick someone hand me a mirror!" Nathan flailed. Alisha handed one over, and Nathan looked at himself. He hadn't really figured out how to control the shapeshifting, but this female version of him was kind of hot.  
"Well that's unexpected!" Nathan grinned.   
"A mop and a woman! This shapeshifting thing is turning out pretty well!" The rest of the night was a little awkward, as Nathan didn't shift back, but it was mostly ignored. As the group went their separate ways, Nathan caught up with Simon.

"Barry! Ok, look, I don't want things to be awkward, but, I mean I think we both know what's happening here." Nathan was never the best with words.

"I don't understand." Simon frowned.

"This, me, you, my endless attraction to you, your ability to time travel out of me confronting you with it," Nathan babbled. Simon looked like a deer in headlights.  
"And im sure having a woman's body won't change that, but I'm pretty sure I can adjust the tits, just saying."

"Nathan." Simon frowned.

"So you're not into me! Your loss! But if you did want to explore the reaches of this feminine form with me I certainly won't complain."

"Nathan." Simon cringed a little further.

"Look I had this planned out much better at the club the other day, but you know that! I'm sure that conversation was way more romantic!" 

"I-I didn't mean to turn back time, I was just, caught off guard." 

"And then ran away." Nathan added, nodding. 

"I-I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings," Simon tried carefully.

"What? No way man, water under the bridge." Nathan smiles a little, just walking in pace with simon. 

"How long do you plan on staying a woman?" Simon asked, almost conversationally. Nathan shrugged.

"Wasn't really planning on being a woman, but you know. Now I gotta at least see what the fuss is about. Who knows! Maybe I'll prefer it! Don't suppose you'd help a fella out? Seems like a hassle to find a bloke at random this time of night." Nathan offered again. Simon looked extremely uncomfortable.

"N-No, I'm going home."

"Well suit yourself. Guess I'm off to the club then." Nathan shrugged, and turned to leave.   
It was a brisk walk, but Nathan was determined. He gave his braless tits a good squeeze before straightening his clothes and walking toward the club. It didn't take long to find a relatively attractive bloke to snog on him. And Nathan has to say: wow. Being a woman was hot. It was like his whole body was made of dick skin. And his tits, yeah, tits felt fucking awesome. But then someone was shoving the bloke off of Nathan. Simon was shoving the bloke off.  
"Barry?" Nathan asked, breathlessly. 

"I-I didn't want you out with some stranger. It's dangerous." Simon stuttered out, face burning. Nathan licked his lips as he looked Simon over with heated eyes.

"Your place or mine?" Nathan asked. Simon just took his hand, leading the way. Nathan basked in the endless string of Italian thoughts flowing through Simon. His heart was pounding as Simon lead the way in his house. 

"This isn't-" Simon started  
"This is just for tonight." He clarified.

"Our secret." Nathan grinned, hot and ready to go. When Simon kisses him it was gentle, and possessive. Simon's hands were firm, his whole demeanor tense. And when Nathan got him out of his shirt, Nathan could have died.  
"How.. How are you so ripped?" Nathan asked. He shouldn't be surprised, considering he'd be traveling back in time to become the masked vigilante soon.

"I-I work out." Simon almost covered himself up at that, but Nathan ran his hands over Simon's chest appreciatively.

"It shows."   
The night was incredible. Nathan couldn't remember having orgasms like this, ever. And after their second time going at it, they showered and went for a third.

"I'm surprised you can hold that form this long." Simon praised as the two lay panting in the bed.

"I'm kind of scared to relax, what if I lose it? I mean I think I nailed it, right?" Nathan asked turning to Simon. Simon smiles, running a finger over Nathan's cheek.

"You definitely went for beautiful." Simon smiles softly. Nathan was still nervous, scared whatever this was would break any minute.   
'He kept his eyes.' Simon thought. Nathan leaned in and kissed Simon slowly, wrapping his arms around him.

After their fourth time, the sun was starting to rise.   
"Nathan" Simon panted out.  
"God Nathan you got to stop." Nathan whined against Simon's neck.   
"Can we just, cuddle? Try to get some sleep?" Simon asks. Nathan huffs, but has no intention of complaining. He might only get tonight, but damn has it been worth it.

Nathan wakes up to the feel of Simon sliding out of bed. They were both still naked. 

"I-I'm going to make breakfast." Simon stuttered out, as he caught Nathan's eyes. Nathan just nodded sleepily. God that was hot. Nathan was practically throbbing from-oh. He had his dick back. Nathan walked-fully nude and loving it-to Simon's bathroom. After using the facilities, he stared at himself in the mirror. Ok. Woman!   
No change.   
Woman! Now! Nathan huffed. Ok. Mop! Still nothing. Just the same Nathan he always was. He sighed before giving up and going in search of his cloths. Once he was dressed, he hopped down the stairs and joined Simon at the table. Simon was blushing so hard Nathan was actually worried about it. 

"So that was probably the hottest night of my life." Nathan offered, before digging into the omelette Simon had made for him. Simon made some kind of noise over his coffee, but wouldn't meet Nathan's gaze. Not that it bothered Nathan. It just meant he got a full view of every hicky and bite mark still visible above Simon's shirt line. Nathan's heart raced as he wondered about the scratches down Simon's back.

Leaving after breakfast was a little awkward, but Nathan was on top of the world!   
So he did say it would be their little secret, but at the same time; Nathan pulled out his phone to call Alisha.

"You've got to be kidding me." She deadpanned. The two of them sat on the roof of the community center, smoking as usual. Alisha lit up their cigarettes with the tips of her fingers, enjoying the new power every chance she got.

"No I swear! It was so hot. He was a little clumsy, but i was like a sexy puma all over him! He came inside me thrice, and once on my tiddies." Nathan bragged. 

"Did you use protection?" Alisha asked, eyeing him over.

"God you sound just like him. No, we didn't have any protection, it not like I'm going to get pregnant or anything." Nathan huffed.

"Well, how do you know?" Alisha asked. The two looked at each other for a moment. Nathan almost blushed at the thought of being pregnant with Simon's child, but he played it off best he could.

"I woke up with my dick pressed against his naked thigh, I think any chance of anything stopped there." Nathan frowned.

"Oh god, that must have been so weird for him."

"Thanks, sis, really helping my self esteem!" Nathan complained.

"No, it's just he seems like he might have a problem with the gay thing, that's all." Alisha tried to defend. Nathan still pouted. 

"Yeah, well, help me figure out this shapeshifting thing then." Nathan huffed. Alisha pulled a face.

"You really think that'll change anything?" Alisha asked softly.

"Well it did last night!" Nathan explained loudly. Alisha just sighed.

"Ok, what do you need?"

Later on, Nathan and Alisha were sitting on Alisha's bed, make up and hair ties scattered around them.

"If this works I might have to have you wash it all off so I can start again." Alisha warns him.

"It's fine, just make me feel girly and the rest should come naturally." 

"Did he go down on you?" Alisha asks, bobby-pins between her lips. Nathan flushes.

"No, we just straight up shagged several times." Nathan shrugged.

"Huh. With me he did this thing with a menthol throat lozenge, it was intense I swear." 

"Sister, I invented that trick." Nathan laughed. Alisha just rolled her eyes. The two continued to gossip as Alisha applied the makeup, and eventually, Nathan shapeshifted naturally. The contour lines were all off, so they washed it off and started again.

"Want to go to the mall tomorrow?" Alisha asked as she applied the finishing powder.

"I do still have some of my power money left." Nathan replied, smiling softly. Alisha snorted.

"How is it that you're the only one who still has money? You have three powers!" She pouted.

"Clearly I'm just more financially mature than you lot." Nathan bragged. Alisha just laughed.

"Well, keep on this gorgeous girl form you've got and we can pick out some dresses tomorrow." Alisha promised. They ended up having somewhat of a sleepover, laughing and drinking late into the night. The two lay on their backs staring aimlessly at the glow stars Alisha had on her ceiling.

"He was a proper superhero." Alisha had said, opening up a little more about her Simon.

"That's all he really wants, isn't it?" Nathan replied softly. He turned to her, worry etched in his gorgeous feminine features.  
"Do you think there's even any chance?" He asked.

"Chance for what?" Alisha asked back. 

"Just-For me and Barry." Nathan huffed, falling back again. Alisha frowned.

"I don't know. Maybe he'll always leave us all to go back in time."   
'Maybe he'll always die there.'  
The two laid there in silence.

"But a bloke's gotta try." Nathan finally huffed out. And he did. He had to try for all of it. Simon, future children, maybe even a job if it really came to that. 

\----------------

The next day, Nathan woke up male. He groaned, before Alisha threw a towel at him.

"Take a shower, and we'll start on that makeup." She ordered. When the two were again sitting on Alisha's bed, quietly doing Nathan's makeup, something in the air changed, something just felt safe. Nathan sighed, and Alisha gasped lightly.  
"You did it!" 

"I did." Nathan stated, feeling himself up a little.

"Ok, enough of that." Alisha scoffed. Nathan held his hands up innocently.  
"Don't make it weird, but you should borrow one of my bras until we get you your own."

With both of them dolled up, the two finally made it to the mall.   
"I know just the place to start!" Even Nathan would admit it was a little awkward at first, but Nathan is a natural showman, and Alisha was an encouraging audience. Somewhere after the seventh outfit purchased, the two settled on the park benches outside.

"Which one are you going to wear for him first?" Alisha asked, lighting her cigarette with her fingers.

"Not exactly like I can see the wanker coming." Nathan huffed. 

"Ok, but say we meet at the pub this Friday and you show up like this." Alisha prompted.

"The blue ones a bit uptight for the pub." Nathan started, glancing through his shopping bags.

"How about the maroon one with the skirt?" Alisha suggests.

"Definitely more casual, really plays up the tits." Nathan nodded.

"Good. So meet me at mine before, and we'll walk to the pub together." Alisha nodded. Nathan had to smile, feeling safe in this new sisterhood he and Alisha had found. He walked Alisha back to hers, before heading back to the community center. Nathan admired himself in the locker room mirror as he tried on the blue dress. He really did nail this form. He looked like a supermodel, especially now that he was dressed the part. Part of him didn't want to go to bed, knowing he would wake up in the wrong form. But he had all week before Friday. He didn't have to be in this form anymore. It was a sad thought, but before he could think on it any further, he watched himself shift back to his normal self. Well shit. He wiggled out of the dress, showered, removed all the makeup, and stood in front of the mirror in his normal clothes. He never had any problems with his body, that wasn't what this was. He knew he was naturally beautiful. But he was starting to wonder if that female form really was just for Simon, or if maybe he did prefer it. He gasped a little as he started to shift back to a woman. He tried to stop it, doing his best to repress the fuck out that feeling. It worked, and he was now flushed, staring at his usual reflection.  
The next morning, Nathan woke up female. He fumbled with his bra, applied a little makeup like Alisha had showed him, and felt giddy as he looked at himself. His form was a little different today, softer. He figured he looked a little less super model, and a little more bar-hot. The sort of face you'd wear to be beautiful at the supermarket, rather then the red carpet. 

Nathan spent the week in that form, sleeping in it and waking up to it. He walked the streets as a woman, and even got catcalled and harassed a couple times. It was a little confusing; Nathan figured most women probably had a clear line between positive and negative attention, but it had never been Nathan's strong suit. Friday rolled around, and Nathan stood outside Alisha's door, feeling oddly self conscious.

"Can I help-" Alisha started absently before taking a look at the outfit.  
"Nathan?" She asked in shock.

"In the flesh! Well, in this flesh at least."

"Ew. I mean you look great but still." When they were seated on Alisha's bed, makeup spread around them, Nathan sighed in relief.  
"You managed to control your power then?" Alisha asks.

"Not really. I've just been in this face all week." Nathan shrugged. Alisha let out a small 'huh.'  
"I should be the first one instead, right?" Nathan asked, almost nervously.

"Well the legs you had before would look better in that skirt, but I don't think it matters too much." Alisha shrugged, and Nathan just nodded.  
"Should I still call you Nathan, then? Or do you have a girl-name now?" Alisha asks as she began dabbing on the foundation. Nathan shrugged.

"I haven't really thought about it." Nathan replayed his night with Simon for the thousandth time.  
"Barry called me Nathan when we spent the night together. I don't think I'd ever want him to call me anything else." Alisha paused her makeup application to give him a sympathetic look.

"Well even if this doesn't work, I'm still glad we're doing it." Alisha admitted. Nathan nodded. Getting closer with Alisha had been an unexpected upside to falling in love with Simon. 

"I've been waking up like this too." Nathan told her.

"Huh, well that's good. No more awkward dick-in-the-thigh mornings." Alisha teases. The two dolled themselves up, and headed out to the pub.  
"I take it back. Those legs with those shoes, definitely better." Alisha laughed.  
"I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees you." The two walked arm-in-arm, Nathan just a tad taller than her now, minus both their high heels. Nathan sighed, comfortable and blushing lightly. When they entered the pub, and joined the others at their usual table, Curtis was the first to notice.

"Who's this?" He asked, mostly disinterested. Then Nathan and Simon caught each other's eye.

"Nathan." Simon answered, jaw a little slack, and breath a little heavy.

"Oh, so you're still doing this then." Curtis huffed, as Nathan slid in next to Simon, and Alisha sat next to Nikki.

"Don't be jealous." Nathan grinned. Curtis just scoffed again. Conversation went on as normal, and as the others got into it, Simon turned to Nathan slightly.

"You look very nice." Simon told him.

"Of course I do. I have the natural grace and allure of a wild gazelle." Nathan winked at him. Through out the night Nathan tried to downplay his attention to Simon, but his heart raced at that familiar string of Italian thoughts speeding next to him. After Curtis and Nikki left, Alisha offered to walk Kelly home.   
Nathan and Simon were quiet for a minute.

"I-I should go." Simon said, smoothing his hair.

"You want to go out sometime?" Nathan asked. This was stupid. But it was worth it. But he'd already done this. But you know, try, try again. Simon sat back down, a look of concern on his face.

"Why are you doing this?" Simon asked.

"Why am I what? Asking you out? Because I fancy you, you twat. I thought that was pretty obvious by now." Nathan huffed.

"No, I mean why are you a woman again? Is it... are you comfortable like this?" Simon looked concerned and confused, like a sexy puppy.

"I'm wearing three inch heels and a pencil skirt." Nathan replied with a frown.

"So then why?" Simon asked again. Nathan shrugged.

"So Alisha and I have been going overboard on the makeovers, frankly, I think I'm gorgeous." Nathan bragged. Simon sighed.

"It doesn't feel right, being with you when you're like this." He explained. 

"You're going to have to face it, Barry. This is part of me now and you're enthralled." Nathan shot him a cheeky grin.

'I want to bring him home tonight, but I-this isn't right.' Simon thought, before looking up at Nathan. Simon blushed lightly, before quietly leaving without another word. Nathan pouted.

"His loss. Couldn't help but notice you're all alone." Some creep started as he boxed Nathan in. Here we go. A few cutting words thrown with a smile later, and Nathan was being tossed through the back alley like a rag doll. Nathan shakily stood, glaring at the asshole and his friend stalking towards him.

"You're really barking up the wrong tree mate." Nathan huffed. Before the men were within arms reach, Simon teleported in ungracefully.   
"Impeccable timing." 

"Stop! I'll, I'll call the police!" Simon threatened, holding out his phone where they could see it. The two guys laughed.

"Whatever mate, whore like that ain't worth it." And the two guys turned and left.

"Call the police?" Nathan turned to him in disbelief.

"Would you rather have to bury those guys?" Simon teased.

"Not really. Mind walking a girl home?" The two walked in relative silence for a while. 

"So how does this work?" Simon finally asked. Nathan slid his arm through Simon's and shrugged.

"What, the shapeshifting?" 

"Can you control it?" Simon asked, allowing Nathan the closeness. Nathan shrugged.

"Sort of. I've been able to a few times, but lately I've just been waking up like this. It's made my morning piss a lot easier let me tell you." Nathan explained, always having to end on a less than ladylike note.

"You've been waking up like this? Without, meaning to?" Simon looked concerned. Why was he concerned? 

"Sure man." Nathan shrugged again.

"Aren't you worried about losing yourself?" Simon asked almost carefully. Nathan thought about it for a second.

"Not really, mate. I guess I'd be beautiful, young, and immortal either way." They were quiet for a while longer until they got to the community center. They stood outside for a minute, before Nathan pulled his arm away from Simon's, and took a step back awkwardly.  
"Well, thanks for the rescue again." Nathan laughed a little.

'potrei baciarla.' Simon thought as he glanced at Nathan's lips. Nathan didn't need to know Italian to see the opportunity. He moved in slowly, meeting Simon halfway. Simon kissed him, softly, and a little unsure. Nathan almost whined as Simon drew back, and Nathan chased the movement. Simon's hands were on his hips, and slowly Simon was wearing down, matching Nathan's intensity.   
"Come inside with me?" Nathan asked as they parted. Simon looked nearly tortured.

"I-I shouldn't, I-"

"Please Simon." Nathan tried, going so far as to use his real name. Simon swallowed nervously, before nodding, and following Nathan's lead. They were kissing and touching the whole way to Nathan's bed. 

"Nathan, are you sure-" Simon started, after both their shirts had been shed.

"Shut up and fuck me, Barry." Nathan ordered, grinding against Simon.

The next morning Nathan woke up as Simon was getting dressed.

"Same time next week?" Nathan teased, causing Simon to blush wildly.

"I-I didn't mean for this to happen." Simon explained. Nathan just shrugged.

"I'm not proposing, Barry. But we are so good together." Nathan stretches out, tits on full display. Simon's blush deepened a shade.

"I should go." He said awkwardly, tightening up his shirt's top button.

"Call me." Nathan called after as Simon retreated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, everything I wrote got corrupted lol. Luckily this chapter was saved here as a draft, but who the fuck knows if there will be more after this because of that. Oh well. Hope you guys enjoyed it somehow anyways


	5. Chapter 5

"So what, he accidentally shagged you?" Alisha asked, lighting her cigarette with her fingers.

"I like to think of it as a happy accident." Nathan grinned.

"You know, you really should be using protection." Alisha scolded. Nathan made a small 'Uh huh.' Sound, but let the silence linger.  
"Seriously, with that attitude, I'd almost think you want his babies." She laughed.

"Well. What if I do?" Nathan shrugged. Alisha gave him a look that screamed 'are you fucking serious?'  
"Now just hear me out!" Nathan protested.  
"He knocks me up, and even if he doesn't want me, he'll have to consider the baby! He wouldn't go back in time and leave his only child alone with a homeless like me!" Nathan justified.

"So what. You're just going to stay a woman for nine months?" Alisha asked, disbelieving.

"Sure! Crazy nonsense happens all the time! It wouldn't be the weirdest thing we've been through." He shrugged.

"Uh, yeah it would."

"Weirder than that shapeshifting broad?"

"Yeah."

"Weirder than that prude mind controlling bitch?"

"Yup."

"Weirder than all the murders?"

"Definitely."

"Ok, fine," Nathan huffed.  
"But it's still a great idea."

"I can't imagine you as a dad, no offense."

"Non taken; because I'd be the mom." Nathan sent her a charming smile.

"You really going to try this? Without even talking to Simon?"

"Girls do this sort of thing all the time! Besides, it's better than just letting him die, right?" Nathan coaxed. Alisha just shrugged.

"I guess, still doesn't feel right."

"It's not right, it's down right dastardly, but that's right in my comfort zone! Besides, it's not like I'll be doing anything all that different; a few vitamins, maybe quit smoking, but other than that, it's all the same suduction I've been doing!"

"You're going to quit smoking?" Alisha almost laughed.

"Sure! How hard can it be? So are you coming with me to the pharmacy or not?"

Armed with a poorly constructed plan, the two walked over to the pharmacy. They approached the counter with a bottle of prenatals and a pack of nicotine patches. The cashier gave them a judgmental look, and Nathan flashed her a charming smile, and a suggestive lift of the eyebrows.

"I still think this is the stupidest thing you've ever done." Alisha sighed. 

"Then you clearly don't know me as well as you think." Nathan grinned, slapping a nicotine patch on his arm for emphasis.

The next few days were hell. Who knew quitting cigarettes was such a drag? He felt like a sad old balloon animal. Nathan sighed, back in his original body and sorely needing a shower. He popped a prenatal and washed it down with a lukewarm beer and a belch.

"Uh, that's disgusting." Kelly said, announcing her presence.

"Kelly!" Nathan flailed, covering his vitamins with a pair of boxers quickly.  
"What are you doing here on this fine day?" He asked, clearly acting suspicious. Kelly shrugged as she made her way up the stairs.

"You've been weird lately, figured I'd stop by."

"I've been weird? You've been down right cold!" Nathan teased, handing her a beer. She took it with a thanks, and it turned frosty in her hand. Nathan gaped.

"I've been so blind. Do mine!" He asked, nearly sloshing the open beer in his hurry. Kelly rolled her eyes, but chilled it before handing it back.

"So what's with the cross dressing?" She asked, straight to the point.

"Is it cross dressing if I'm actually a woman at the time?" Nathan points out.  
"Besides, I looked damn fine, and you know it."

"So this has nothing to do with Simon?" She asked, clearly already knowing the answer.

"What?" Nathan laughed nervously.  
"Of course not! That would just be silly!"

"Alright." Kelly shrugged.  
"You coming to the pub tonight like this then?" She asked, startling Nathan.

"Tonight? Shit is it Friday already?! I gotta get ready!" He sprung up, flying past Kelly and down the stairs.

"Hey-I-fine." Kelly huffed.  
"I'll wait here then." She watched Nathan run out the room towards the showers.  
"Prick."

Nathan showered, shaved, and stood in front of the mirror. Ok. Shapeshifting time. He took his time with the make up and prayed to shift forms. Of course, any prayer from him was a joke, and twenty minutes later he was washing the makeup off with a sigh. Of course it wasn't going to work. Nathan shuffles back to his bed, where Kelly waited with a quirked brow.

"Took you long enough. So you walking with me or not?"

"Yes! Fine!" Nathan pouted, throwing on his old torn jeans and a grey thermal. Pathetic. 

Along the walk, Nathan texted Alisha, still feeling sorry for himself.

"Wish I still had my power." Kelly said softly, breaking Nathan out of his thoughts.

"What, chilling beer isn't good enough anymore?" He teased. 

"I never know what's going on anymore. Everyone's being weird, especially you." She accused.

"What? Me, I'm not suspicious!" He defended suspiciously. 

"Whatever. I'm just saying, maybe Simon was right: those powers were ours for a reason."

"What, like a super hero reason?" Nathan laughed.

"No, dick. Like it was made for me or something." She shrugged. Nathan felt a weight in his stomach.

"You're saying you want your power back." He almost asked quietly.

"Yeah. Never thought I would." She replied almost flippantly. But Nathan needed the mind reading! He-he just needed it.

"Fine!" Nathan huffed out loudly. Kelly gave him a look.

"Fine what?" She asked.

"Fine you can have your power back." He grumbled, sulking even more into himself.

"Ya right, that power dick said all our powers were already bought up."

"Yeah, by Barry! He gave me back my immortality and threw in your mind reading." Nathan explained.

'You can read my mind?' She mentally accused.

"Yes, and while we're on the subject, has Barry always thought in Latin, or is he doing that just to annoy me?" Nathan asked, his sulking retreating a bit at his own curiosity. Kelly just laughed.

"Nah mate, that's new." She smiled softly.  
"You can really give it back?"

"Yeah, we'll talk to Barry about it tonight." Nathan shrugged.

The two were the first to the pub, Kelly buying them a round, and Nathan saving their usual table. When Nikki and Curtis showed up, Kelly began explaining how they could each get their old powers back.

"Uh, let me stop you there, the answers no." Nikki interrupted.  
'Rather like orgasming in one place, thanks.' She thought off handedly.

"Yeah, I'm with her." Curtis laughed.

"Wait!" Nathan said suddenly, an idea forming.  
"I mean, maybe think about this, time travel? That's pretty convenient, surely you want that back!" If Curtis took it, Simon couldn't go back in time, right? Curtis just 'tsked' disinterestedly.

"Nah man, that was too much pressure. If anything happens now, I can just heal them. Besides, you said Simon has it. Can't think of a better place for it honestly." He shrugged. Nathan's shoulders slumped a little. When Simon showed up, Nathan told him Kelly wanted hers back, and Simon lit up a little.

"Oh great, how about-" Simon turned to Curtis and Nikki, who were already shaking their heads.

"No thanks, been over this." Nikki waved off.  
When Alisha joined them, they fell into normal conversations, even Alisha was laughing along. Nathan was trying to get into it, it had been a while since they had all had a relatively normal night out together, and anyways, it wasn't like Simon was showering him with attention either form he wore.  
Great. Now all Nathan could think about was showering with Simon.  
After Curtis and Nikki took off, Simon invites Alisha to join them on their walk to the Power Dick.

"Yeah, no thanks. That guy gives me the creeps." She shrugged, before hugging Nathan.  
"Call me, k?" She told him before waving to the others and heading out.

"Can't blame her." Kelly shrugged. The three walked in relative silence, enjoying the cool night air on their way.

"Should we see if he has any new deals, then?" Nathan asked, if only for some way to break the quiet.

"We could always rob another bank." Simon teased back.  
When they got to the door, Simon knocked, shifting uncomfortably.  
"It's-it's Simon?" He said. Kelly scoffed.

"What, you're on a first name basis with this prick?" She asked.

"Well, I mean I've been here a few times now." He explains shyly. The thin man lead them in, and soon the three were standing in front of that glass desk. Nathan and Kelly gave Seth their hands, and the power transferred over. Nathan quietly mourned the loss of the Italian thoughts he had come to love overhearing.

"See you soon, Simon." Seth said, with a knowing smile.

"Oh shut it." Kelly scoffed.

"Excuse me?" Seth challenged, leaning forward slightly. Simon places a warning hand on Kelly's arm, but she just shrugged out of it.

"I said shut it. You sit there with this shit-eating grin like these powers are all some big joke. There are killers out there with super powers; Have you ever done anything good with your power? Ever?" 

"Kelly," Simon quietly warned again.

"Should I grab my tights?" Seth asked sarcastically, ignoring Simon.

"You gave powers to a rapist, a killer. You could be helping people."

"Really don't see that happening." He smirked.

"Do you even care about anyone?"

"I care about me." He shrugged. Kelly just scoffed, leading the the way out. When they were far enough away from the shop, Simon ran to catch up to her.

"Why did you do that?" He asks, almost frantically.

"Cause he's a dick." She scoffed.

"He's the only one who can give everyone's powers back!" Simon explained

"No one else wants their old powers back, mate!" She yelled, before turning to leave.

"Well done." Nathan said, as he and Simon watched her go.  
"But look on the bright side! No more thinking in Latin!" 

"It-it's Italian." Simon replied, half confused. Nathan gave a sarcastic circle of applause, before heading out himself. God he needed a smoke.  
When he got back to the community center, Nathan threw and caught his phone a few times before finally texting Kelly.

'Want to drink about it?'  
'Yeah sure. Meet at mine?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I was able to mostly rewrite this chapter from memory, some parts I actually like better than the first time I wrote it, others might be missing entirely, but oh well. Before I lost the files, I think I had the next chapter written and like two sentences of the chapter after that, but who knows when I'll get around to rewriting that or writing more. Either way, thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

"Do you ever think about everyone we've killed?" Kelly asked, a few drinks in. She was lounging on her couch, with Nathan sprawled on the floor.

'I think about death too much as it is.'  
"Now why would I go and do something depressing like that?" He answered.

"None of them would've had to die if we could just take their powers." She continued.

"Plus, if we had that dick on our team we could all swap powers anytime we want." Nathan added in.

"Instead that dick just sits there and thinks about money." Kelly scoffed. Nathan leaned up on his elbow, turning towards her.

"You read his mind?"

"Nah. I think he's immune. But you can just tell from his stupid face."

'Sounds like she fancies him.'  
"Sounds like you fancy him." Nathan teased, and was rewarded by a Kleenex box being hurled at him.

"Dick." Kelly sat up, grabbing the box off the floor to put it back.  
"You want a cigarette?" She asks.

'God do I'  
"Oh I quit." Nathan shrugs. Kelly almost laughs.

"You?"

"Ow." Nathan replied, placing his hand over his heart, but getting up to follow her out either way.

"So what's going on with you and Simon?" Kelly finally asks.

"Wha-aaat?" Nathan asked suspiciously.  
"Nothing! Nothing at all!"   
'We shagged. He fucked me. Several several times.'  
"I don't know why you would think that!"  
'He came inside my vagina-'

"Ew, ok, I got it." Kelly huffed.

"About time! I've been dying to talk about this!" Nathan sighed, although he had actually worried about it quite a bit.   
"Alisha knows, but considering I told Barry it would be our secret, I'd feel like a Total twat if I told you too." Nathan shrugs.

"So you two ain't together?" She asks, finally lighting her cigarette.

'Not looking like this.'  
"No, you know me, I need to spread my legs and fly! Never one to be tied down!" Nathan brags.

"So if Simon came here right now and proposed to you, you'd turn him down?"

'Well, no, hang on.'  
"Of course! A gorgeous bird like me needs to be free and wild!"  
'I'm trying to have his babies.'

"Uh, you can't have his babies, you're both men." Kelly replied.

"Well sure, right now, but not while he was inside me!"

"So you're just going to stay a woman for nine months then? Plus the time it takes to breast feed?" 

"God, you and Alisha. I mean it's not that crazy." Nathan shrugged.

"Does Simon even know?" 

'Oh god no.'  
"Not really; I mean if he thought I was going all baby-crazy he might not want to keep having amazing sex with me. Better to keep this between us girls." Nathan shrugged.

"So you do know this is crazy." She almost asked.

"Maybe. But it's honestly for the best."  
'Does she know about the time travel?'

"Alisha told you, huh?" Kelly asked, almost quietly.

"You too?" Nathan asks her right back.

"Nah. Just over heard it." She shrugs.  
"Not hard to believe though."

"No. I guess it's not." A silence spreads between them before Kelly sighs.

"I missed you, but I'm glad you and Alisha are getting along. Seems good for her." Kelly told him.

"Yeah, plus ditching her rapist power's gotta feel good."  
'Missed you too.' The two stood there in a comfortable silence for a while.

"Well alright." Kelly started, flicking her cigarette out into the dark.  
"Come on, I'll make us some chicken nuggets."

That week, Nathan stood in the community center locker room, watching himself closely in the mirror every morning. He tried to calm his mind, imagine himself shifting forms. He took a deep breath before preparing his makeup again. He tried to pay close attention to the feeling of the soft bristles on the brushes, the smell of the powder as he applied it lightly. He sighed, letting his mind clear and his defenses drop. when he looked back into the mirror, he was looking at a woman. This form had soft golden hair and freckles and dimples. He still had his eyes, but other than that, he was someone completely new. He got dressed, and ran his fingers across his new bone structure.  
His phone going off in his pocket stirred him out of his reverie. 

'Going for ice cream, you want some, meet me outside in 5' Nathan nearly jumped at Kelly's text, flying down the hall and out the doors. Kelly was already outside, just lighting her cigarette.

"That was fast. Figured you'd take an hour to get ready like Friday." She teased, looking over his new form with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well no one offered me any ice cream on Friday, did they?" He teased back.  
'God I want to smoke.'

"Not if you're looking to get knocked up." She laughed.

"I know, it's worth it, just let me sulk!"  
The two kept their light hearted banter-Nathan crossing the line and getting hit a few times-before getting their ice cream and heading back to the community center. Suddenly Kelly held her hand out, stopping them both.

"Come here." She whispered, motioning for him to hide against the wall with her.

"What are we doing?" Nathan asked, as Kelly peered around the corner. She didn't reply, just watched a minute before ditching the last of her cone and moving with purpose. Nathan followed her into the cemetery, and the two crouched behind some larger tombstones.  
"Is that the power dick?" Nathan asked quietly, slurping a little at his ice cream .

"Hush, I want to see what he's doing." The two watched as Seth set a bouquet of flowers at a headstone, before he turned and left. Kelly got up, stealthing her way to get a better look at the grave.

"So who's dead girl then?" Nathan asked. Kelly huffed, scuffing her boot against the ground before walking off. Nathan shrugged, and followed.  
Kelly lit up a cigarette as they approached the community center, and sat backwards at one of the tables.

"I saw him earlier this week." Kelly finally told him.

"Power dick?" Nathan asked, sitting next to her, still licking at his ice cream.

"Yeah. Down the block from my place; helped him get his car going, and he gave me a lift."

"Is that some kind of dirty innuendo?" Nathan asked, earning the smack from Kelly.  
"Ow, I was just asking! And what do you know about cars?"

"A lot more than him, and probably you." She huffed.

"Alright, that's fair." Nathan grinned.

"Well I should head home; see ya tomorrow then." Kelly sighed, snuffing out her cigarette and heading home.

"Sure." Nathan replied, glancing back to the community center. Before he could stand, Simon was teleporting in and landing gracelessly on the ground in front of him.

"Barry." Nathan said, moderately surprised.

"Hi." Simon replied, shifting to a sitting positions  
"Haven't really found out how to control the teleporting." He explains with a huff. Nathan crouches to Simon's level and bops his nose with his ice cream cone. Simon sputters, wiping at his nose as Nathan just licks the cone.

"Wanna come inside then?" Nathan asks, standing and gesturing to the main doors.

"I- I actually have somewhere I should be." Simon declines awkwardly.

"Suit yourself mate." Nathan huffed. He finally got a female form down and Simon was still turning him down. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, though." Simon says quietly, before turning to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooh! Another short chapter, but at least it's done and posted! Hope you guys enjoy!


	7. Chapter 7

Ok, so following Simon? Not the sexiest thing Nathan could have done. But really, what could he possibly have to do that's more important than a good lay? Nathan peered around the corner, waiting for Simon to walk a little further before following. Simon glances around suspiciously, before turning invisible. That cunt. Nathan glances around, looking to see where Simon might have been heading. But unless Simon was about to rob another bank, there really wasn't much out this way.  
Shit. Simon was about to rob another bank. Nathan turned around, heading to the power dick's office. There's only one thing Simon would spend that kind of money on, and Nathan was going to catch him in the act. Nathan leaned against the wall, waiting for Simon to appear. It took a lot longer than he was expecting, and after scrolling through his phone for ten minutes, Nathan was so bored he almost left. But just as the thought crossed his mind, Simon was appearing in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Simon asked, clutching the metal briefcase.

"Me? What about you? If you're going to rob a bank for powers, you should at least share the wealth!" Nathan accuses back. Simon huffs, pressing his hair down anxiously.

"Do you want another power?" Simon asked.

"Who doesn't?" Nathan replied instantly. Simon just sighed.

"Ok, well, come on then." Simon walked past Nathan, before knocking on the door. The thin man lead them in, bringing them to Seth's office, where he was sitting as though he had never left.

"Simon. Always a pleasure. I see you brought a friend." Seth's smile was that of a predator, surely not at Nathan's supple new body, but at the mystery of what power would lay within.

"This is just Nathan." Simon sighed, as though explaining Nathan's choice of forms was some chore.

"Just Nathan?" Nathan replied indignantly.

"I'd like to buy us each a power." Simon said, ignoring Nathan and placing the briefcase on the desk. Seth smiles, and holds his hand out. He doesn't even check the case. Simon sits in front of him while Nathan stands back, watching suspiciously. After a minute, a ring of light flows down Seth's arm and over Simon's.

"Your turn then?" Seth asks, as Simon stands and gestures for Nathan to take his seat. Nathan eyes him suspiciously before taking the offered seat and Seth's outstretched hand. Finding a power in that mess was strange. Some were blocked off-top shelf, and out of their price range-while others fluttered around as though advertising their usefulness. Nathan let out a small 'huh' as something distant caught his eye. Wouldn't that be cool?  
"Normally I'd charge an arm and a leg for that one." Seth explained, as he passed it over to Nathan.

"Not really an A list power, maybe a B power." Nathan mused.

"Well Simon it has been a real pleasure, I hope you enjoy, and come see me again soon." Seth waved to his thin body guard to take the briefcase as Simon lead them out.

"So what did ya get?" Nathan asked as the two of them walked down the road.

"Agility." Simon replied nervously.

"Seems like a waste." Nathan huffed.

"I've had to get Curtis to heal me three times this week." Simon explains, a frustrated smile on his face.

"That clumsy?"

"I can't control the teleportation yet. Sometimes I end up in dangerous places." Simon shrugs. Nathan can't help but frown as he imagines Simon falling into a biker bar, or gang den, or worse.

"Should just sell it." He shrugs, but Simon just chuckles.

"It's saved you twice now."

"Twice? Nah. Anyways I'm immortal, you're not." Nathan winces as the words leave his mouth. Too caring. Simon's smile turns softer.

"Well next time I teleport off the side of a building I should be able to catch myself, so you don't need to worry." Simon says it so casually, but Nathan's fallen off a building before.

"I'm not worried, Barry, I'm just saying, falling off of a building was not a fun way to die." Nathan's almost pouting now. 

"It was only a two story building." Simon huffs.

"Yeah, so's the community center and I didn't come out of that looking too hot." Nathan doesn't know why he's being so aggressive about this.

"You were impaled on the fence." Simon frowns.

"That prude bitch wasn't and she's dead!" Nathan was vaguely aware that he was raising his voice, but he tried not to notice it.

"But I'm fine." Simon insisted. Nathan opens his mouth to argue louder but stops short, just barely.

"Fine." Nathan says, crossing his arms and feeling frustrated and a bit confused. The two walk in silence for a while before Simon takes a shakey breath.

"Did you-I mean, if you want, we could, grab a drink?" He's nervous. That's a good sign, right?

"You're buying." Nathan tells him, feeling a stupid blush begin to rise. The two turn towards the pub, a familiar quiet between them.

"So what did you get?" Simon finally asks. Nathan laughs.

"Something that'll help a whole lot more than agility, you know, if I'm ever stupid enough to fall off a building." 

"I-I'm sorry, I'm not really sure why were fighting about this." Simon frowns. Nathan just huffs.

"We're not. Do whatever you want, you're your own man, right?" Nathan's trying not to pout, he really is.

"I'm going to be ok, Nathan. You don't need to worry." He tells Nathan again.

"I'm not worried, stop saying that. I don't even care. Go fall off buildings or scale them or fuck some tall smiley murderer, do whatever you want, ok?" They've stopped walking now, and Nathan wants to stop, he wants to flirt and seduce Simon and go for that drink, he wants this to be easy, but instead, he's standing here lecturing, and he doesn't know why.

"I know you're upset, but I don't know why." Simon says carefully, always so upfront and honest, and...

"Can you just kiss me?" Nathan says before he can stop himself. And Simon does, slowly, gently. Nathan wraps his arms around Simon, and everything's ok, but he doesn't know what it means.  
"My place is closer." He says, instead of analyzing anything. Simon let's out some kind of squeak that might have been a laugh, but nods, and follows Nathan's lead. There touches are gentle along the walk-Nathan brushing his hand along Simon's arm, or Simon taking Nathan's hand in his-and by the time they arrive, Nathan is near boiling between lust and hope, all the while furious with himself for almost ruining this. They kiss slow and passionately, and Simon's more use to Nathan now, more use to the intimacy. His touches are less hesitant, and he breathes Nathan in like Nathan is an essential part of life now. Just for tonight, it feels as though they're inseparable, and destined. 

He wakes up to Simon gently kissing his back, still holding onto Nathan.  
"Don't get me wrong-" Nathan starts, and Simon seems to freeze.  
"Breakfast is always welcome, but this is definitely my favorite way to wake up." Nathan feels Simon laughing lightly against his skin. 

"I thought you were going to make fun of me." Simon says softly. Nathan laughs.

"Maybe later if you play your cards right." Nathan turned, placing his hand against Simon's cheek and leaned in to kiss him. 

"I wasn't sure how you'd react if I was still here." Simon admitted. Nathan's confusion was visibly clear.

"I told you I'm in love with you and you think I just wanted a one night stand? You're the one always running out on me." Nathan huffed, leaning back on his elbows.

"You couldn't have meant that." Simon explains, as though what he said made perfect sense. Nathan should be calling him an idiot or a wanker or something, but honestly the words just kind of fell short.

"If you only listen to one thing-ok, no-two things, that I've ever said, listen to this: one! I, Nathan Young, am crazy, head-over-bat-shit in love with you, Simon-Barry-Bellamy. And two! I want you to my boyfriend. Just mine. I can't share you. I-" Nathan started again, but didn't know what else to say.  
"Be my boyfriend." He says more than asks. Simon seems genuinely confused and startled at this.

"Why would you want me?" He asks Nathan in complete seriousness. And Nathan wants to put together the perfect romantic reply, something witty and charming, something that will sweep Simon off his feet and secure their happily ever after. Instead, he says,

"Have you seen your cock, mate? It's like a horse gave you a transplant. Shit deal for the horse, mind you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw. This fic is really going all over the place. Good news is I'm past writing where I lost everything, so that set back is over. Bad news is I'm past the part I've already written, so I have no idea what I'm doing. I guess we'll just enjoy the ride together


	8. Chapter 8

"So what happened after that?" Alisha asks, painting the second coat on Nathan's nails.

"Then he said he had to go, and that he'd see me tonight, and he'd think about it." Nathan huffed. The two were seated on Alisha's bed, makeup done up and outfits waiting to be tried on.

"Are you still trying to get knocked up?" She asks

"Well sure, but it's not like I'm really trying. I mean I'm trying to have sex with him every chance I get, but getting a little bun in the oven would just be a bonus." Nathan explains. He was pouting. He shouldn't be, Simon was actually considering him. That's what he wanted, but here he was. Sulking.

"So would you be his girlfriend then? Or his boyfriend?" She asks, blowing over Nathan's nails.

"He could call me his little bitch for all I care." Nathan huffs. Alisha pulls a face, but doesn't reply. After a minute, Nathan keeps talking, just to fill the silence with something other than his own nerves.  
"I can see it now, he invites me to dinner with his family; 'Hi Mrs Bellamy," Nathan starts, in a voice higher than his already feminine one.  
"My name is Nathan, I'm your sons little bitch, and he's my boyfriend, lovely house you have here!'" Nathan gets the reaction he was hoping for as Alisha starts giggling.

"Somehow I don't think he'd go for that." She says, amused. 

"Yeah, I've never really been the 'meet the parents' type." Nathan shrugs. Truthfully he doesn't know how he sees their future, he just knows he wants it, knows he wants to keep Simon from going back in time.

"Somehow I'm not surprised." Alisha replies, a small smile still tugging at her lips. 

"Did you ever meet his parents?" Nathan asks, although it hits him how stupid the question is before she answers.

"No, he didn't have anyone who knew he was there besides me." She shrugged.

"So what, he just sat alone until we needed saving?" Nathan asks. He didn't know how he pictured Alisha's Simon to live. 

"He had a flat; some kind of superhero hideout. Lots of pictures on the walls and clocks counting down. Of course, they've all been at zero for a long time now." She was looking at Nathan's nails, but mostly just avoiding eye contact.

"What happened to it?" Nathan asks, although he knows it doesn't matter now.

"It's in my name now. I thought about moving in, but, I don't know. My parents are hardly ever home anyways, I might as well stay here." She shrugged, but even Nathan could tell the conversation was getting hard for her.

"So Kelly fancies that power dick." He said, reaching for the first straw to distract them. Alisha almost lit up.

"No!" She gasped, shoving Nathan's shoulder lightly.

"I know! Who knew he was a person with a life, huh? He even leaves that anally clean office of his sometimes!" Nathan grinned. The two gossiped and laughed, and by the time they were heading to the pub, they were both in a much better mood. The two were running fashionably late, but they were looking and feeling great.

"Hey baby, I like your hair!" Some creep yelled out, walking towards the two of them as they walked arm in arm.

"Fuck off." Alisha huffs, not bothering to give the guy a glance.

"Don't be like that, and I wasn't talking to you anyways bitch, I meant the cute one." He snarls back.

"I'm flattered, honestly, meth-heads usually don't notice my charming self." Nathan laughed, but Alisha just pulled him forward.

"What did you call me you skank?" He was following them now.

"Asshole? No, Wanker? crack-sniffer. Or was it something classic, like fugly-corpse-raper?" Nathan listed off casually.

"Nathan drop it, let's just go." Alisha whispers, her grip on Nathan's arm tightening.

"Don't fuck with me whore!" The man shouted, and suddenly Alisha and Nathan stopped. It was like their feet were frozen in place.  
"You don't know who I am!" He yelled again, getting close enough to grip Nathan's arm tightly.

"No, I don't know you, so fuck off." Nathan snarled back. The mans grip tightened well past painfully. Nathan felt weird.

"How about I tale you back to mine and we get to know each other?"

"Our friends are waiting for us, they'll come looking." Alisha warns, but Nathan can't help but laugh.

"Look at this little fuck-twig! He thinks he can actually get some! I bet he's never smelled a pussy that wasn't dead or terminally retarded!" Nathan can't stop laughing, and the man swings, punching Nathan to the ground. Alisha's yelling, but still can't move. And Nathan... Nathan feels kind of funny. Like lights behind the eyes and helium in his guts and he's still laughing, and the man is still yelling at him, asking what's so funny, calling him a cunt and a whore and, Nathan, Nathan can't stop laughing. Alisha's voice is far away now, everything is, actually. Nathan's flat on his back, chest aching from laughing so hard. He actually feels fine. Something warm and wet covers him and there's a gurgling and a scream, and when Nathan catches his breath, he's on the ground, staring at the shredded body beside him.

"Nathan? Nathan, come on." Alisha's tugging on his arm, and helping him to his feet, and Nathan's looking at the body as she pulls them down the street.

"What was that? Did you do that?" Nathan asks, still reeling.

"You didn't?" Alisha asks quietly. shes lighting a cigarette with her trembling finger tips now.

"I don't... I just felt really funny." Nathan replied quietly. A sick feeling hit his stomach.

"I'm calling Simon." Alisha tells him as she puts her phone to her ear. Nathan isn't listening to the conversation, he's just looking back at the mauled man on the black top behind them. He looks like he was ripped apart by a bear. Alisha places a hand on Nathan's arm.

"The others are on their way." She tells him. He nods, but doesn't look at her. At some point he sits on the curb, and tries to wipe his bloody hands on his blood soaked jeans. Did he do that? There are voices, but Nathan still isn't listening. Then someone places a jacket over his shoulders. He looks up, seeing Simon as he sits beside him.

"Are you ok?" Simon asks softly. Nathan glances behind him where the others are standing around, Alisha explaining everything to them. 

"You know that feeling, like when someone's really mad, but they've got something in their teeth, and they're screaming, but all you can think about is whether or not that chunk of whatever is even from today?" Nathan asks, but his own voice is kind of distant.

"Not really." Simon replies, brow furrowed.

"Did I do that?" Nathan asks, looking back over to the mess on the pavement.

"We'll take care of it. It's going to be ok." Simon tells him. Simon goes to stand, but Nathan grabs his wrist, tugging him back down to the curb.

"I don't think I did that, Barry." Nathan says softly. At some point Simon is helping Nathan into the back seat of Curtis' car, and the others are loading something in the boot. Nathan pulls the jacket around himself a little tighter, and can't help but breathe out a shakey laugh. What the hell was that? Nathan stays in the car when they park under that familiar bridge. He picks at the drying blood mindlessly, and wonders if anyone was else was laughing. He felt something cold and aching in his gut, but he was so, so tired now. Nathan woke up to Simon helping him out of the car. Nathan leaned on him, letting Simon lead. Simon would fix this. He always does.   
Simon lead him up some stairs and opened a door. Was this Simon's house? Simon was talking, asking him something.

"What?" Nathan manages to ask.

"I-I said you should shower; I can wash your cloths, and you can borrow something to sleep in." Simon looked scared. Why was he scared?

"Ok." Nathan replied sleepily. He let Simon lead him to the bathroom, let Simon take his coat and help him out of his cloths. Simon had started the shower, and helped Nathan in, not worrying about his own cloths getting wet.  
"You could stay." Nathan says quietly as Simon goes to leave. Simon kisses Nathan's forehead gently.

"Wash up. I'll be right back." He says so softly. Nathan does as he's told, and some part of him is aware that he's shifted forms during the shower. He's so tired. The blood is seeping down the shower drain, and it seems to last forever before it goes clear, and Nathan feels clean. He dries off, wrapping the towel around his waste as he stumbles back into the hallway. Simon hesitantly hands him a tee shirt and a pair of sweats, before helping Nathan to the bed.   
Sleep feels so much heavier than it ever had. He's deeper, darker than he usually is. It almost feels like death, but it's warm and he isn't scared.   
He wakes up to Simon's worried eyes watching him.

"What was it like when you died?" Nathan isn't sure he actually asked it out loud, but Simon seems to hear him.

"I-I don't know. It was cold and heavy. I don't know how long I was dead for, but it still felt much longer." Simon swallows loudly.  
"I've wanted to ask you about it, actually, but it's never seemed like the right time." He explains. Nathan nods.

"It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't died before. Your body's gone but it's still so cold. Being pulled under like that, and feeling like you're just going to fall forever." Nathan's glad to say it aloud, glad to know Simon could understand it now.

"Is it like that every time?" Simon asks softly.

"Sometimes I think I can reach the bottom, if I stop swimming against it. I think maybe that's where everyone else is, you know. But then there's this whip-lash, and I'm waking up. Like it was all just another nightmare." 

"Do you get nightmares a lot?" Simon asks, and it's like a shock. Why were they talking about this? This was, it was so serious, wasn't it? Nathan doesn't know what to say.

"Is there breakfast, or are we just going to sit here all morning?" Nathan huffs, getting to his feet and pushing past Simon. Nathan's halfway down the stairs before Simon catches up.

"I made coffee, but I didn't want to leave you alone too long." Simon says, following Nathan into the kitchen. 

"Always the superhero, aren't you." Nathan huffs. Simon blushes a bit at that, but places a cup of coffee in front of Nathan and starts cooking.  
"If you're going to serve my coffee, you should know I only take it with bourbon and cream." Nathan jokes, but sips at it anyways.

"Can you tell me what happened last night?" Simon asks after a minute.

"Some guy got mauled by a bear I guess." Nathan shrugs. Simon frowns, but Nathan tried not to notice. His leg was bouncing under the table. He didn't want to talk about this anymore.  
"Maybe I should go." Nathan says, but it sounds faint.

"Nathan," Simon sighs.  
"What power did you get from Seth?" He asks, glancing at Nathan over his shoulder, full of worry.

"Not that." Nathan laughs. What even was that? Simon cooks, and Nathan is still so tired.

"I want to take you back to Seth's; let him read your powers." Simon tells him, more than asks. Nathan just lets out a small laugh.

"I'm telling you Barry, it wasn't me." Nathan took another sip of his coffee with a wince. He had never been much of a coffee person, mostly he starts his day with soda from the machine. He was still so tired though.

"I'm not blaming you, I just think, with what we heard from Alisha, it just seems like the next step." Simon says softly, flipping the omelette and pulling out two plates. Nathan sighs.

"Do we have to talk about this right now?" He almost whined, but everything has lost its intensity, he's quieter and it's all so draining.   
Simon sets the plates at the table, sitting across from Nathan. Nathan slowly starts picking at his food as Simon watches him, thinking through everything carefully.

"Stay here today, and tonight we'll walk there together, ok?" Simon asks softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What even is this fic


	9. Chapter 9

After breakfast, Simon invites Nathan to the couch, setting up the Netflix for him. Nathan grabs the remote, and the blanket, cocooning himself instantly.

"Just, take it easy. I'm going to take a quick shower, and I'll be right back, ok?" Simon asks. Nathan nods, and finds a show, but he's asleep on the couch before the opening credits are through. 

It wasn't a usual nightmare this time. He still felt trapped, he still couldn't move more than a few inches, but this time it wasn't the cold suffocating coffin confining him, but some creep in the alleyway. This time Simon wasn't teleporting in to save him. This time he was a woman, and he was terrified.  
He awoke to Simon screaming his name. Nathan shot up, gasping for breath.

"I'm fine, I'm up." Nathan said instantly, before taking in the scene around him. Simon was at the edge of the room, towel clenched around his waist, and the room was torn to shreds. Nathan looked around slowly.  
"I didn't do this." Nathan says, instead of any number of better responses to the situation. Simon is gaping at him, before he seems to come back to himself. He looks tired too.

"Nathan." Simon sighs, so tired and caring. 

"It's fine, I'm up." Nathan says again, because he isn't sure what else to say.

"I'm going to get dressed, and then we should go. You can come back here after, if you want." Simon says, needing Nathan to understand. Nathan just nods, not meeting Simon's eyes. When Simon returns, the two head out, making there way to Seth's quietly. 

Simon knocks, and the thin man leads them back.

"Simon." Seth smiles, but his smile seems strained as well.

"We need you to read Nathan's powers." Simon tells him, as he helps guide Nathan to the chair. Nathan holds out his hand, and Seth takes it curiously. After a minute, Seth almost gasps, before taking his hand back, and turning to Simon.

"Give us a minute." He orders, and waves the thin man to lead Simon out. He looks like he wants to protest, but Nathan just tiredly waves him off. When Simon and the thin man are gone, Seth folds his hands and leans forward.  
"Nathan. Are you aware of the fact that you're pregnant?" Seth asks carefully. Nathan can barely register the question, so he laughs.

"Already? That was quick." He chuckles again, but this isn't right.  
"I'm actually a man right now, so, I don't think that's how that works."

"Your shapeshifting, I think it's left you with the womb, even if you don't have enough energy to maintain the rest of the changes. But there is another person with their own powers inside you." Seth explains. Nathan gets slight flashes of that foreign feeling that felt so goddamn funny. Of that cold heavy draining weight in his stomach. Of the body torn to pieces, and Simon's living room shredded.

"So what do we do?" Nathan asks, because maybe Alisha and Kelly were right. Maybe this was the weirdest thing they'd been though so far. Seth sighs.

"If what Kelly told me is true, then I'd suggest taking the dangerous power away, at least until they're old enough to learn to use it. That is, assuming you plan to keep it." 

"The power?"

"The baby. You didn't seem too surprised about it."

"Oh. Yeah I'm definitely keeping the baby. That's weird right? God I'm pregnant." Nathan laughs. This was the plan, but, well, he didn't really think about having a super powered fetus.

"I think I should take the power. It's no guarantee that the baby won't re-form it in-utero, but considering the violent capabilities..." Seth trailed off, leaving Nathan to simply nod.

"So where do we put the power?" Nathan asks.

"Anywhere you want. I can give it to you, but based on what I've seen, I'd say there's a larger chance the baby will duplicate it. Then again, this is all just theories, right now. Powers having babies is still pretty new." Seth was good at this, Nathan realized. Wait, were they paying him for this? And what did Kelly tell him? Nathan was too tired for this, so instead of asking, Nathan simply said

"Welcome to the team, mate." Nathan gave his hand over to Seth, who frowned at the statement, but didn't deny it. A ring of light slipped down Nathan's arm and over Seth's.

"So where to put the power?" Seth asks.

"Give it to Barry. Just, don't tell him where it comes from yet. I hadn't really thought about how I was going to tell him." Nathan just shrugs. Seth frowned.

"So Simon's the father?" Seth stated more than asked, nearly whispering.

"Obviously. Barry and I have the sexual chemistry of two rabbits on adderal." Nathan replied, trying to bring some of his usual bite back. But man, that was taking more energy than it use to. Seth seems to consider this for a minute before nodding.

"I won't tell him, but he'll ask, which means you'll have to." Seth tells him, before pressing his buzzer and telling the phone to let Simon back in. Simon paces in impatiently. 

"Did you find it?" Simon asks, walking to the desk just a fraction faster than usual.

"We did." Seth looks uncomfortable.  
"And we agreed it would be safest under your watch for now." Seth offered his hand to Simon, who took it hesitantly.

"Where did it come from?" Simon asks as the power transfers over.

"That is a story for another day." Nathan sighs.  
"Come on, were done here. And Seth, say hi to Kelly for us." Nathan says, as he loops his arm through Simon's and leads the way out.

"Thank you, Seth." Simon nods at him seriously.

"See you soon, Simon." Seth nods back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short chapter


	10. Chapter 10

He was pregnant.   
"So that went well." Nathan grinned.   
"Crazy times, right?" He was Pregnant.

"Are you going to tell me what this was?" Simon asks.

"Oh man. That's kind of a can of worms, isn't it?" Nathan huffed. He was pregnant! He should just tell Simon right?

"You gave me this power, you can at least tell me where it comes from." Simon frowned. No, no if Nathan told him about the baby now, he might freak out, turn back time so Nathan never tells him. Or worse! Turn back time so they never sleep together at all.  
"Nathan? Are you ok?" Simon asks, and Nathan lets out an awkward laugh.

"Yeah! Totally, just realized I forgot to return Alisha's bra, so I should really go." Nathan rattles off before turning to leave. Simon didn't stop him, and Nathan didn't turn back to see his reaction. Nathan was calling Alisha the second he turned the corner.

"Are you ok?" Was the first thing she asked.

"I'm fine, better than fine, actually, but freaking out!" Nathan hisses into the phone.  
"I'm heading to yours." He tells her before hanging up.  
Alisha opens the door, and Nathan pushes past her. The second she closes the door behind him he's telling her.

"I'm pregnant! That crazy power that killed that guy and shredded Barry's living room was the baby!" He blurts out.

"Oh my god, your baby's a killer?"

"Damn straight, and Seth had to take its power and give it to Barry. I have a super-powered fetus." Nathan place his hand on his stomach, watching it with a sense of awe.

"So what did Simon say?" Alisha asks as she leads the way to her room.

"Oh." Nathan frowns.  
"I didn't tell him."

"What? Isn't this exactly what you wanted?" She asks, sitting on her bed and motioning for Nathan to do the same.

"Well yes, but what if he tries to go back in time and stop it from happening!" Nathan whined, placing his arms around his stomach protectively. Alisha sighs.

"Do you think he would do that?" She's asking softly, and places her hand gently over Nathan's arms. Nathan pouted.

"Maybe." He sulks. Alisha watches him for a second, before withdrawing her hand and shrugging.

"Got any names in mind?" She asks, and Nathan blushes.

"I mean, I was kind of thinking of naming them after my brother. Jamie could be a girls name too, so it covers all the bases." Nathan almost mumbled. Alisha smiled at him.

"Tell Simon. Tell him you're keeping the baby and you've named them Jamie. He wouldn't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it, I'm sure he wouldn't erase someone either. A name makes it real." Alisha told him. Nathan sighed. Ok. He could do this. That actually made sense. 

"Ok. Yeah I can do that." Nathan sighed.

"But first, and honestly more importantly, have you had lunch?" Alisha asks. Nathan stares at her for a second.

"What? Who eats more than twice a day?" He jokes, and Alisha smacked his arm.

"You do. You're eating for two now, so come on, we're going out." She tells him, before searching through her closet.

"I actually-I can't shift forms. I've actually been exhausted since last night, aside from the baby-fueled adrenaline rush." Nathan laughs almost nervously.

"Yeah well this might surprise you, but bodies actually need to eat to function. And who said you have to change forms? We're just getting lunch." She shrugs. Nathan is almost at a loss for words. It wasn't like he had consciously assumed they couldn't hang out in public unless he was a woman. But on some level he kind of did think that. 

"Then why are you looking through all your dresses?" He asked suspiciously.

"Because were going for lunch and I want to look cute."

"You just want to make me feel bad for being in sweats and a tee shirt, but the jokes on you because these clothes belong to my baby-daddy." Nathan grinned. Alisha laughed.

"I can't believe you did it. And Jamie is going to grow up calling me Aunt Alisha, by the way, that's just fact." She smiles back.

Nathan ends up telling Alisha the whole story, from how that murder really didn't feel like him, all the way until he meet back up with her today. By the time the two head out, however, they've shifted to more casual conversation, laughing and joking about nothing in particular. Alisha buys him a chicken sandwich and salad, opting for just the salad herself.

"I hope you don't actually expect me to eat this." Nathan grimaces at the salad bowl.

"It's not for you, it's for the baby. Man up and eat a balanced meal for once." She replies simply, already eating her own. Nathan makes a face, but chokes it down with minimal complaints.

"We should do something relaxing." Alisha says as they finish their meal.

"Weren't you the one trying to get me to talk to Barry about all this?" Nathan replies, almost accusing. Alisha just shrugs.

"Little Jamie's not going anywhere. And besides, stress is bad for the baby." 

"Ah, now I see why you're so keen on being 'Auntie Alisha', you just want an excuse to pamper yourself!" Nathan teased.

"Please, Nathan, I don't need an excuse." She winks at him, a shared smile between them.

The two go for manicures, Nathan opting for a shiny dark green polish, while Alisha got hers with French tips. The two walk towards Alisha's arm in arm.

"Well, no time like the present." Nathan laughed awkwardly, as they approached Alisha's front door.

"Do you want me to walk you there?" She offered, but Nathan just shook his head.

"Better clear my head first." He explained.  
The walk there was nerve racking. Nathan practiced the conversation in his head, just as Alisha had described it. He ended up circling the block a few times before finally gathering the courage to turn down Simon's street.  
When he got to Simon's, he stopped at the curb. Simon was taking out trash bags of broken trinkets. He was cleaning up the room Nathan and their child had shredded.  
"H-hey." Nathan greeted nervously. Simon looked up in surprise.

"Nathan." Simon replied simply.

"Bad timing?" Nathan asked, gesturing to the trash bags.

"N-no, I can finish this later." Simon told him. The two just kind of looked at each other for a minute.

"So can I come inside or what?" Nathan huffed, feeling the blush already starting. Simon awkwardly gestured him in, closing the door behind him.

"Can I get you some coffee or tea?" Simon offers.

"No, I'm actually staying clear of caffeine." Nathan starts. Ok. He could do this.

"Oh. Ok." Simon replied awkwardly. They were just standing in the doorway.

"So here's the thing." Nathan started. Some part of him was studying Simon's face, as though expecting him to have already turned back time.

"Here's what?" Simon asks, after Nathan is quiet for too long.

"You remember my brother Jamie?" Nathan asks, for once in his life taking the long road there.

"Of course." Simon frowned.

"Well I named her Jamie. Or him. Either way I named them and I'm keeping them, and that's just how it is." Nathan huffs out. Screw the long road. 

"I don't understand." Simon says hesitantly. He's clearly not getting it.

"I'm pregnant and I'm keeping it and your the father, fucking mozel toph." Nathan explains quickly. Simon looks like he might pass out. Simon opens his mouth to say something, but instead just looks down at Nathan's stomach.

"You're pregnant?" He almost whispers. Nathan nods, but Simon is still just looking at Nathan's stomach. 

"I am." Nathan says awkwardly. He didn't know how this was suppose to go, but they were still here, so Simon hasn't turned back time. Gotta be a good sign.

"How, how is that..." Simon seemed like he was malfunctioning a little.

"That power dick says he thinks my shapeshifting left me with the womb, even if the rest of the changes were getting harder. So, our little Jamie's pretty resilient. Plus our baby killed a guy for me, so clearly they've got their priorities straight already."

"We're having a baby." Simon repeats slowly. Nathan grins, but he's still so nervous.

"A little super powered baby, yeah." 

"Is this why you wanted me to be your boyfriend?" Simon asks, and seems to stumble to his seat.  
"You know I... I'd be there for the baby, and you, even if we're not together." Simon explains with a frown.

"You don't want to be together." Nathan says more than asks. It kills him a little inside, but he gets it. He might not admit it, but Nathan knew he was difficult. It didn't matter, it didn't. He got what he wanted, Simon was here, he wouldn't go back in time now. Nathan got what he wanted, but yeah. His heart was still breaking.  
"It doesn't matter." Nathan finally says aloud.  
"I'll go. Just, think about little Jamie, alright? I-" Nathan almost chokes on the words.  
"I'm gonna go." He tried to leave quickly, but Simon calls out to him. Nathan stops at the door.

"Can.. can their middle name be Samantha? Or Samuel, if it's a boy." Simon asks. 

"Jamie Samuel young? A bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" Nathan frowned. 

"My sister's name is Sam. I just think it'd be nice." Simon defends awkwardly. Nathan nods.

"Jamie Sam Young it is." Nathan laughs a little.  
"Unless you're hoping they'll hyphenate." Nathan smiles at Simon, who still looks in shock, but he's smiling back.

"Can I take you for lunch tomorrow? We could talk then." Simon asks. Nathan can't help but grin.

"Sure. You know how to reach me." And with that, Nathan walks out, feeling light and hopeful again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't who in this fandom decided Simon's little sister's name is Sam, but I've accepted it as canon.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, quarantine is about done, so this might be the last chapter I write for the next few years, lol. Hope you guys enjoy.

The next morning Nathan walks without knowing where, just to clear his head. Soon, however, he finds himself outside Kelly's. He should tell her right? She'll find out soon enough anyways. Nathan leaps up the stairs to her apartment, knocking nervously at her door. He waits a minute before huffing and knocking again, louder this time.  
"Come on Kelly! I have big news!" Nathan whined loudly. There's some noise on the other end, things getting knocked over.

"Just a second!" Kelly huffs back. Finally she throws the door open, and Nathan pushes past her. 

"About time! What happened to you? You look like you got caught in a tornado." Nathan laughs. Kelly just huffs, and goes to pull her hair up in its usual bun.

"Not a great time Nathan." She grumbles, closing the door behind him. The place was kind of a wreck.

"Is the shower going?" Nathan asks, peering down the hall at the source of the noise.

"Uh, none of your business, so what are you doing here?" She crosses her arms, and gives him an impatient look. Nathan just grins, thoughts basically yelling.  
"You're pregnant? You can't be pregnant." She huffed, looking over his usual form.

"That power dick explained it all quite well to me, and what matters, is Barry and I are having a baby! So now he can't go back in time, and we can all live happily ever after!" Nathan couldn't help the giddiness from seeping through. The sound of the shower shut off, and Seth was coming around the corner with a towel around his waist.

"You can't stop him from going back in time, he's already there." Seth frowned, glancing between the two.

"Uh, how do you know about that." Kelly accused.

"Very good question. And also, what are you even doing here?" Nathan laughed, gesturing to Seth's half naked form.

"You told me to say hi to Kelly for you." Seth shrugs almost shyly, before Kelly smacks his arm.  
"I'll just, I'll go get dressed." Seth explained instead, slipping back into Kelly's room.

"Don't think you've avoided the question dick!" Kelly calls after him. Nathan laughs.

"Nice one, Kell, up top." He congratulated. Kelly rolls her eyes with a small smile, but leaves him hanging. 

"Well might as well sit down, you want something?"

"Food, and anything decaf." Nathan replied, unable to keep the smile from his face.  
"So tell me how This happened." Nathan calls to her as he lounges on her couch.

"He was at the pub the other night; bought me a drink, gave me his number." Kelly shrugs, handing a glass of apple juice to him.  
"So you're pregnant?" She asks, never one to focus on herself for too long. Nathan just smiled, hands ghosting over his stomach.

'I'm pregnant.' Nathan thought softly.  
"Yeah, little bastard's got a lot of his dad in him. Less than two months old and already murdering people." He says, softer than his usual jabs.

"You know anything about babies?" Kelly asks, grabbing the waffles when they pop, and handing them to Nathan. She doesn't mean for it to sound harsh, just realistic. 

"I know I love them." Nathan retorts. Kelly rolls her eyes.

"I ain't babysitting." She tells him, before getting up and knocking on her bedroom door.  
"You're coming out to explain, clothes or not." Kelly tells Seth through the door. Seth sheepishly steps out, fully clothed. Kelly just lead the way back to the living room.  
"What do you know about Simon?" Kelly asks as the two sit in either arm chair.

"Simon was my first customer." Seth replies uneasily.

"Well that doesn't explain how you know he was from the future." Nathan snaps, mouth full of waffle. He was happy that Kelly had gotten a good lay, but that doesn't mean he completely trusted the guy.

"We were friends, I suppose." Seth sighs, a little grief seeping through.  
"He came around a few times. Saved my life more than that." He shrugs.  
"We got to talking. He told me I'd meet him and his friends someday. That I'd take care of them when he traveled back. Of course I didn't believe a word the guy was saying, but it was nice to have someone to talk to who didn't work for me." Seth shifts, gauging Kelly's reaction.   
"When you all came to sell your powers I didn't know it was you, not until Simon showed up after to buy them all back. I knew it wasn't the Simon I had gotten to know." Seth just shrugs.

"So what, you think you're here to 'take care of us?'" Kelly scoffed.

"No, I didn't believe any of that, and Simon never told me I'd end up with you-"

"Uh, it was one night and one drink, I'd hardly call that ending up together." Kelly rolled her eyes, but she was blushing a little.

"I just meant-look, I like you, that's got nothing to do with Simon." Seth explained.

"I'm gonna go." Nathan said awkwardly. This was clearly shifting into a relationship sort of talk.

"We're talking later about the baby." Kelly tells him firmly.

"Actually, yeah, there is more I need to tell you about the baby." Seth adds in.

"And you couldn't have told me yesterday?" Nathan accuses.

"It's nothing bad!" Seth defends.  
"Look, it's just your baby's powers." He huffs. Nathan almost does a double take.

"Powers plural?" Nathan asks. He did kind of remember Seth talking in plural form yesterday, but he was so tired, he didn't really pick up on it at the time.

"I think your baby's mimicked both your powers, and Simon's. Simon's powers at conception, but, I think every power I've given you since, the baby's soaked up as well. At least, some version of it." He explains. There's a brief moment of stillness, before Kelly finally asks.

"What do you mean some version of it?" 

"The baby has a lot of powers, but they aren't exact copies. Immortality based on healing, where yours is more a return from death. Invisibility basis on intangibility instead of displaced light and sound. That sort of thing." He's explaining carefully, glancing between Kelly and Nathan.

"My baby's immortal?" Nathan asks near breathlessly, ghosting his arms over his stomach.

"To some extent. It's why I asked you immediately if you planned to keep it." Seth says, but Nathan's hardly listening anymore.  
His baby's immortal. He gave his baby immortality. Fuck what anyone says, Nathan was going to be a great dad. He didn't have any money, but he would give his baby anything. And most importantly, Nathan would give his child something he himself had never really have. His child would have unconditional love. Plus, immortality. Nathan was almost tearing up.

"Thanks for breakfast, Kell, and good luck with the-" Nathan gestured to Seth's entire presence.   
"But I gotta go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll update again someday maybe, thanks guys!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow thank you guys so much for the support! At first I was busy, then quarantine just kind of kept going, and I hit a massive writers block, so I just started on another fic for my other otp, but now we're back! At least for one fluffy chapter, but it has direction! And it's more than I thought I'd do lol. So! Thank you again, I hope you enjoy!!

Nathan sat across the restaurant table from Simon. It wasn't a fancy restaurant; no one was wearing suits or fancy dresses, but it had waiters, which meant it was fancier than Nathan was use to. He felt a little on edge, and out of his element. He wished he had shown up as a woman. He could at least blend in a little better then. Not that anyone was staring or anything. No, no one was even looking at them. Just two guys out for lunch. Why was he even so nervous? Oh, right, because this was the father of his unborn baby, taking him out for a nice lunch.

"Hi, welcome to Apple Bees, my name is Amanda, I'll be your waitress for the evening, can I start you gentlemen off with a drink?"

"Uhm," Simon cleared his throat a little.  
"I'll have an iced tea?" 

"Just a tall glass of apple juice for me, but if you could be Amand-azing, and bring this guy a beer. He just found out he's going to be a father." Nathan boasted.

"Nathan," Simon scolded quietly, hands actually moving to cover his blush.

"Aw, wow! Congratulations!" Amanda grinned.  
"One glass of apple juice and one beer coming right up!"

"Why did you do that?" Simon sighed, once the waitress was far enough away.

"What? You don't want to celebrate?" Nathan scoffed.  
"Any rational person would use this opportunity to get smashed! I know I would, if I wasn't the one, you know." Nathan held his hands around his stomach, blowing his cheeks out to complete the "fat" motion. 

"Have you looked into a doctor yet?" Simon asks, leaning toward the table a little more. Nathan mimics the motion teasingly.

"Never been a fan." 

"Well you have to see a doctor." Barry frowned.

"Why, we both know no one's going to give me a pregnancy test, and even if they did we already know what it'll say." He shrugs. Simon closes his eyes and leans back, almost dizzy.

"You need to get a doctor, or a midwife, who can be there through the whole birth, you need a birth plan, and ultrasounds." He explains.

"Find me a doctor that can handle this and I'll consider it." Nathan laughs.

"Ok." Simon nods seriously.

"Barry, this isn't really a normal birth." 

"So we find a doctor who knows about the storm, about powers. We've seen a lot of people have been effected, there's got to be a doctor who knows." Simon's confidence, his plan, had Nathan smiling softly.

"Gotta say, Take charge Barry is really doing it for me." Nathan couldn't help but give Simon a flirtatious glance. Simon sighs.

"This is serious Nathan."

"And you're pretty sexy when you're serious." Nathan nods, grinning further as his comment gets a shy smile from Simon.

"Ok, let me worry about the doctor." Simon compromises.

"Ok!" Amanda says, announcing her arrival in a cheerful tone, causing Simon to jump.  
"One beer for the new father, and one apple juice for the best friend." 

"Oh, no, I'm not just the best friend, I'm having the baby." Nathan corrects, to Simon's absolute shock. The girl looks a little surprised, before smiling softly.

"Well congratulations to you both. You know my cousin's a transgender too." She says before pulling out her notepad.  
"Do you know what you're ordering or do you need another minute?"

"Yeah, I'll have the Cesar salad and the turkey burger with extra pickles. Actually a lot more than extra. And maybe some on the side? I don't know why but that sounds really good right now." Nathan orders casually.

"Ok, sounds great. And for you sir?" The waitress turned to Simon, who was still a little on edge.

"I uhm. I guess I'll get the salmon." He replies quietly. The waitress scribbles it down and cheerfully walks away.

"Do you think it's too early for me to be getting cravings? Maybe it's psychomechanic."

"Psychosemantic." Simon corrects.

"Sure, I mean it's been what, a month since we started fucking?" Nathan says, almost quietly.

"I guess so. I still need to do a lot of research. I read a little online last night, but I'm still not sure what to expect."

"Yeah, plus the fact our kid's got a superpower arsenal, who knows if they're even growing normally." Nathan jokes, but the air between them shifted from slightly awkward to bordering on worried.

"I'll find a doctor, and we'll figure this out." Simon promises, taking Nathan's hand from across the table. Nathan didn't know how Simon could sense his worry like that. How he could calm Nathan without needing Nathan to say anything at all.

"You worry about that. I'll worry about pressing the old pause button on my less than child-friendly vices." Nathan scoffs. The food comes, and they manage to talk more calmly through out their meal. Nathan explains what Seth said about the baby's powers, and Simon listens proudly. Halfway through their meal, they both get a text from Alisha, asking the group to meet her at a strange address tonight. 

"Well. No sense in splitting up if we're both headed the same way soon." Nathan shrugs, trying not to sound as clingy as he felt.

"We should have time to head back to mine and watch a movie, if you want." Simon offers. Nathan shrugs, trying not to show his excitement.

"Sure man, sounds good." The two ate in companionable silence, and Simon paid the check before leading the way out.

"Got a movie in mind?" Nathan asks, slipping his arm through Simon's.

"I've got a lot of dvds to choose from; or we can find something online if you want." Simon offers. Nathan's heart flutters at the closeness, and the prospect of cuddling up to a movie.

"Do you have Jerry McGuire?" Nathan almost whispers.

"I-I'm sorry I don't know what that is." Simon frowns.

"I've got a copy at the community center. We'll watch it next time." Nathan smiles a little to himself. It wasn't manipulative, but Simon wouldn't say no if it was brought up like that.

"Ok. Next time then." Simon replies quietly. When they get to Simon's, the two make their way to Simon's bedroom, and Nathan begins scanning the shelf for a movie he's heard of.

"You know I'm not much of a movie guy." Nathan confesses, after spending too long reading over the titles.

"Well, what kind of movies do you like?" Simon asks, getting up to crossing the room, and standing close to Nathan as he looks over the shelf with him.

"Nothing scary. And no cowboys." Nathan says flatly, scrunching his nose. Simon chuckles, and the sound of it riled up the butterflies in Nathan'a stomach all over again.

"Well, a lot of the movies I have are horror or scifi."

"Sci-fi's ok. But don't expect me to know what's going on." 

"How about fifth element? It's kind of cute, and funny, not at all scary." Simon suggests. Nathan shrugged, allowing Simon to pick it off the shelf as Nathan curled up on the bed.

"There's a girl on the cover, is it a romance?" Nathan asks as Simon slips in next to him.

"No, but they sort of kiss." Simon shrugs. The movie starts up, and Nathan slowly leans closer to Simon, resting his head against Simon's shoulder. Simon's tense at first, but as the movie goes on, he relaxes; even so far as to move his arm around Nathan. Nathan sinks into the invitation, leaning his head against Simon's chest. Nathan didn't know why Simon was letting him be so close after Simon told him just yesterday that he didn't want them to be together, but he certainly wasn't about to complain. By the time the credits were rolling, Nathan's hand was flat on Simon's stomach, his leg thrown over Simon's own. It was quiet between them, with the movie finished, and for once, Nathan didn't want to be the one to fill that silence.

"We should probably go." Simon almost whispers.  
"Alisha and the others will probably be waiting." He tried again after a minute. Nathan sighs gently. He was right, of course. They couldn't stay cuddled up forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nathan feeling like Applebee's is a fancy restaurant might have been too much but I had to. Also I'm not really going to do any research on babies. I don't have em, I don't have friends that have em, and I started doing research, but then I was like uhg. (But seriously this chapter wouldn't exist without all you lovely people sending your support, I am honestly so glad you've enjoyed this fic) I don't know when I'll write the next chapter, but at least I know what I'll be writing when I get around to it, so much less mystery than last time! Thanks again for all the comments and kudos!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im so glad I'm back into writing this fic.

Nathan and Simon walked side by side on the way to the address Alisha had texted to them. It had been quiet the whole walk there, and Nathan was starting to feel it itch at him.

"Do you," Simon started, interrupting himself with a shakey breath. Nathan looked at him quizzically.

"Do I what?" Nathan asks, before punctuating his sentence by slipping his arm through Simon's. 

"Do you really want me?" Simon finally asks, blush rising.

"I think I've been pathetically clear about this." Nathan laughed.  
"Besides, you could read my mind when I first asked you out, you have to know I meant it." He shrugged.

"But you could have been making fun of me, or setting me up." Simon almost squeaks out, not looking at Nathan, but not pulling his arm away as they walked.

"First of all, if I was making fun of you it would be a lot funnier than that. And second," Nathan cuts his sentence short, trying to actually think his words through for once.  
"And second, did I even know you could read my mind the first time you heard me thinking about you?" Nathan says it quietly, almost shy. Simon was tense, and when he stopped walking, Nathan stopped too.

"When I died-when I came back." Simon starts, still not meeting Nathan's eyes.  
"You were thinking that you couldn't lose me. You were scared. You-you said you love me." It was quiet for long enough for Simon to look up at Nathan.

"And you still don't believe?" Nathan asks, glancing at Simon's lips briefly.

"I don't know, I never know with you." Simon confessed.

"You need me to say it out loud?" Nathan laughs, but it's gentle, bordering on vulnerable.

"Say what?" Simon asks, cautious and hopeful.

"I love you." Nathan finally told him, although it almost hurt to do so. Why was this so terrifying? He could barely look at Simon.

"Tell me again." Simon replies after a minute, more confidently.

"I love you." Nathan obeyed immediately, meeting Simon's eyes this time. Simon brings a hand up, gently running his thumb across Nathan's jawline, over his bottom lip. Nathan's breath catches.

"Again." Simon demands, and Nathan's heart is racing.

"I love you." Nathan reaffirms. Simon pulls Nathan down for a kiss, and Nathan briefly realizes he isn't use to being this tall so close to Simon.   
"I love you." Nathan tells Simon unprompted between kisses.  
"I love you Barry." His arms are around Simon's waist, and his heart is beating so fast. Then there's a whistle and Simon's jumping away from him. Nathan turned to glare at Curtis and Nikki as they approached.

"When did this happen?" Nikki laughed. Simon crossed his arms, seeming smaller and farther away again.

"Around the same time I fucked your mom." Nathan shot back, a little resentful that they had ruined the moment.

"Not cool." Curtis frowned. They started walking, and hesitantly, Simon and Nathan followed. Curtis and Nikki were talking to each other, Curtis' arm around her waist, but Nathan and Simon were quiet for the rest of the walk. 

"Well this is the place." Curtis hummed, looking up at the apartment building.

"Hey, we late?" Kelly called to them, approaching from across the street with Seth at her side. The six of them stood together on the side walk for a minute, before the lift door opened, and Alisha stepped out.

"Hey guys." She grinned.

"What's this all about?" Nathan asked, still a little grumpy.

"Well, I figured we'd need a new place to meet on fridays now that Nathan's pregnant," Alisha started, gesturing to the building behind her.

"Wait, what?" Curtis asked.

"What do you mean he's pregnant?" Nikki almost gaped.

"Long story, very romantic, actually." Nathan explained.

"It's gonna take a while to get this place set up, but I figured we could all pitch in?" Alisha asked, gesturing them into the lift. The seven of them squashed in, taking the very cramped ride down two floors. When the doors opened, they piled out and Nathan dramatically gasped for breath.   
"It'll be easier when we don't all show up at once." Alisha shrugs flippantly.

"What is this place?" Nikki is the first to ask.

"It belonged to the guy in the mask." Alisha began.  
"He and I, well, we knew each other. I already took home his personal stuff, but I'm thinking we can clean this place up as our new hang out. And maybe baby-proof it, for Nathan and little Jamie." She explains softly. 

"You're naming him Jamie?" Kelly asks, smiling genuinely.

"Does no one think this is weird?" Curtis asks, earning a glare from almost everyone in the room.

"See this is why no one tells you anything." Nathan huffs, gesturing to Curtis in a 'can you believe this guy' kind of motion.

"Whatever. I'm just saying it's weird." He huffed back.

"You gonna help or not?" Kelly asked, clearly miffed.

"Of course! I'm just saying!" 

"We're here for you, Nathan, and your baby. We're just acknowledging that it's weird." Nikki tried to clarify. Nathan just rolled his eyes. The group spent the next few hours arguing and compromising on what to do with the space, before finally agreeing to think it over and meet back up tomorrow to work on it. Seth and Kelly left first, followed by Curtis and Nikki. After waving them off, Alisha walked over to Nathan and Simon. She took a shakey breath before holding a key out to each of them.

"I think you should stay here, instead of the community center." She explains as Nathan takes the key, turning it in his hand.  
"And I figure Simon's the best person to hold onto the other key." She smiles back at Nathan, and while Nathan would probably later blame it on hormones, he felt tears prick at his eyes as he pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you." Simon said for him, and Nathan just nodded.

"I'll let you two figure things out." She smiled, making her way back to the lift.

"See you tomorrow." Simon waved. The two were quiet, mostly still, even as the doors closed after her. Finally after a minute, Simon looked to Nathan, some kind of question in his eyes.

"You want to stay? Help me get settled?" Nathan asks, already feeling nervous. 

"I'd like that." Simon laughed softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for the support! It means a lot to know you all want to keep reading


	14. Chapter 14

The bed was made neatly, and Nathan just kind of stared at it for a moment. 

"Is there anything you want to pick up from the community center?" Simon asks after a quiet minute. 

"I got a duffle bag, and my jerry McGuire dvd." Nathan shrugs.

"Do you want to get it tonight? Or I could get it for you, while you get settled?" Simon offers. 

"If you want. I'm going to try out this shower; of course you could always join me." Nathan wiggled his eyebrows at Simon, who turned beat red.

"N-no, I'll just, go get that for you." Simon replied quietly making his way to the elevator.

"Ok, I'll see you soon." Nathan shrugged. It made sense that this place use to be future Simon's. No matter how they fixed it up over time, it would always have that anal sci-fi, murder-bunker look to it. Plus the clocks all at zero that seemed to be imbedded in the wall. Nathan enjoyed a long shower, nearly moaning at the intense water pressure. He could definitely get use to this. When he was finished, he stepped out, but Simon was still no where in sight. He sighed loudly. Clearly he scared Simon off again. The guy was like the worlds most annoying seesaw, and once again he left Nathan crashing to the ground. His stomach turned slightly, and he rubbed it absentmindedly as he checked the fridge. Nothing but an open box of baking soda. Great. Well at least it gave him an excuse to text Simon. Nathan grabbed the box of baking soda absently, shifting it slightly as he grabbed his phone. Nathan stares at the phone for a minute. Simon wouldn't just leave him here, right? Or maybe this was all how it was meant to happen. Simon would see Nathan and their baby were safe here, then he would leave. Travel back in time to buy this flat, and chase his real love, Alisha. The lift doors opened, startling Nathan out of his thoughts. He didn't mean to throw the baking soda. Simon froze, duffle bag over his shoulder and a bag of food in his hand, covered from head to toe in baking soda. 

"Well some warning would have been nice." Nathan huffed, grin slowly growing at the ridiculous sight.

"Is this baking soda?" Simon manages to ask, still frozen.

"Well it's not cocaine." Nathan strolled over to Simon, reaching over to brush his shoulders. Simon watched, some mix of emotions on his face. Nathan grinned secretly, before stepping closer, leaning down to kiss Simon's cheek. It left a small lip-shaped clear spot on Simon, and a white powder on Nathan's lips. Simon sighed, and Nathan took the food bag from him. 

"You got dinner." Nathan smiles, wiping the powder off his lips and making his way to the small table in the corner. There were only two chairs, one for Simon, and one for Alisha, Nathan realized. Alisha probably never threw baking soda at him.

"It's just fast food." Simon replied quietly, setting down the duffle bag and making his way to the bathroom.  
"Go ahead and start, I'm just going to-" Simon gestured you the shower, then to his powder-coated self. 

"Sure sure." Nathan said, still frowning at the chairs. He wasn't manipulating Simon. He wasn't. After a minute Nathan finally picked a chair-it didn't matter which one, really-and grabbed a burger out the bag. He ate slowly, looking around the empty flat. He wished he could just meet Alisha's Simon. Just to prove that they weren't the same person. 

"Nathan?" Simon called out after the sound of the shower shut off.

"Yes, my love?" Nathan called back across the flat.

"I-I don't have any fresh clothes." Simon explained nervously.

"Well if you want to go all nudist on me, I certainly wouldn't complain." Nathan grinned.

"Do you still have those sweat pants I lent you?" Simon asked, and Nathan sighed heavily. He liked having those. He trudged over to his duffle bag, sifting through it until he found them. He turned the corner to hand them over, and just, stopped. Simon has a towel around his waist, still soaked, water dripping down his chest.

"Uh." Nathan stopped. Simon held his hand out, but Nathan was much more interested in the towel now holding itself up.

"Nathan," Simon said softly behind his smile.

"Oh, pants." Nathan blushed, holding the sweat pants out suddenly, and turning back towards the table as soon as Simon took it. Fuck, even without super powers, Simon could probably scale any building he wanted. Why the hell did he hide those muscles? And how was he so good at hiding them? Maybe he just spent his whole life crafting his secret identity. Mild mannered Barry Bellamy. Simon joined him at the table, pulling out the other burger.

"I don't see a tv or anything. I can bring my laptop next time though, so you can show me your movie?" Simon offers. Nathan looks around the room again.

"Guess the guy in the mask didn't watch a lot of movies." Nathan replied quietly.

"Are you ok?" Simon asks, and again, Nathan hates how easily Simon picks up on these things.

"Me? Sure. But you can't tell me it's not weird, living in this bloke's place?" Nathan deflected. Simon shrugs.

"I'm more worried about Alisha. She said she knew him, past tense. Does that mean he died? How close were they, and why didn't Alisha tell any of us about any of it? We were trying to find out more about him for a long time, I just don't see why she wouldn't tell us." Uh oh.

"Well no use dwelling on it now!" Nathan covered quickly. Maybe this was how it happened. Nathan would slip up, Simon would learn that he was suppose to be with Alisha, and he'd go back in time to make it true.

"You can talk to me, if you're not ok." Simon tells him quietly. Looking more at his food than at Nathan.

"Noted." Nathan shrugged.

"Alisha wasn't the only one who knew him, was she?" Simon almost asks. And how was Nathan suppose to reply to that? So he didn't. For once, he stayed quiet.  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Simon asks softly after a minute, setting the rest of his burger down. 

"Nothing to tell." Nathan shrugged. He never even met Alisha's Simon. 

"Ok, but if you ever want to tell me, I'd like to listen." Simon offers. They eat the rest of their meal in silence, and after Simon cleans up. Nathan sighs loudly, before making his way over to the bathroom. It wasn't much privacy, but he could take the time to brush his teeth, wash his face, and figure out what to say. He really should have thought to talk this over with Alisha and Kelly before hand. Nathan turned the corner to find Simon staring at the bed awkwardly. Nathan laughed a little.

"Need some help?" Nathan asks, walking behind Simon, and wrapping his hands over Simon's chest. Simon melted into his touch a little, and Nathan absolutely saw it as a victory.

"Just waiting for you." Simon smiles over his shoulder at him. Nathan goes to lead them to the bed, but Simon hesitates. Nathan looks back at him curiously.  
"Can you," Simon shifts awkwardly, licking his lips absently.  
"Can you tell me again?" He asks much quieter, but when his eyes locked with Nathan's, the confidence was obvious.  
Nathan's heart races. He steps back into Simon's space, letting himself look Simon over. 

"I love you, Barry." Nathan replies easily.

"My name." Simon demands softly. Nathan scoffs, rolling his eyes.

"Simon; I love you Simon Bellamy." Nathan says, lacing his arms over Simon's shoulders.

"You really mean that." Simon mused, one hand on Nathan's hip, the other running over Nathan's arm.

"Took you long enough to realize." Nathan smiles, meeting Simon for a few soft kisses. Simon followed Nathan to the bed, but there was no rush. They kissed softly, and cuddled wordlessly; falling asleep in each other's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this the end of the fic? Feels like an ending. But at the same time I got plans.. Everything up until this point would have been what I just timeskipped over when I thought that was how I was going to approach it. So really everything after this chapter will be more of a pt 2. Maybe I should do it in a separate story as an actual Part two, and end this one here. I haven't decided yet. Anyways let me know what you think, I hope you enjoyed!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I couldn't stop writing once I got started again. So from here on out, I consider this the second story in this fic series. I'm gonna go ahead and say the fic technically ends at the last chapter, but we're gonna keep going anyways. So, hope you enjoy!

The next morning Nathan watched himself in the mirror. He stretched this way and that, watching his reflection slowly.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked, startling Nathan.

"Am I showing?" Nathan turned to the side gesturing towards his stomach.

"I don't-Nathan it's too early for that." Simon sighs.  
"Can I use the bathroom?"

"Fine. Just call me fat like that." Nathan huffed, leaving Simon, and strolling back towards the bed. He plopped down, and after a while, Simon sat next to him.

"I'm going to run home and get changed before the others get here." He tells Nathan. Nathan just looks up at him for a while, before smirking and sitting up to catch Simon in a surprise kiss.

"Wear something slutty." Nathan teased. Simon laughed, kissing Nathan again before heading out.

"Don't worry baby." Nathan rubbed his stomach peacefully once he was alone.  
"Daddy will be back."   
Some time later, Nathan answered his ringing phone lethargically.   
"Ello?" Nathan yawned into the receiver.

"Hey, I'm on my way over." Alisha replies cheerfully.  
"Simon still there?" She asked, not trying to hide her girl-gossip tone.

"He went home to get changed. Somehow his clothes got all covered in-"

"Don't finish that sentence." Alisha sighed.

"Fine, I won't. But now you'll have to live with imagining the worst and that's on you!"

"I think I can live with that. I'll see you soon." Alisha laughed. When Alisha arrived, Nathan was quick to take the chance to talk over the big question.

"He's going to want to know more about the guy in the mask!" Nathan huffed, after explaining where their conversation had lead last night.

"Tell him it's not your secret to tell." Alisha shrugged. Nathan frowned.

"Well that doesn't sound very much like me at all." 

"Doesn't mean it isn't true. If he needs to talk about this it should be with me, but we can't let him know that it was him." She explained seriously.

"Alright, fine. Just do me a favor?" Nathan started as he walked over to the table.  
"Which chair was yours?" He asked, gesturing between the table set. Alisha rolled her eyes.

"I get this is weird, but it's gotta be better than the community center. I'm just trying to help." Alisha was honestly too good for this. Nathan sighed.

"You are, but it's strange sleeping in yours and Simon's bed with Simon. I feel like the cheap side whore." He confessed. Alisha gave him a sympathetic frown.

"This Simon, your Simon, he's not the man I fell in love with. I would give anything to have my Simon back, but this isn't him." She needed him to understand, and Nathan wanted to.   
"And this bed? It isn't mine, or my Simon's, or even your Simon's. It's your bed. Invite whoever you want to sleep there." She said. Nathan sighed, sitting next to her.

"I told him I love him. So many times now, actually. He likes to hear it, but I don't think he feels the same."

"He hasn't said it back yet?" Alisha asks.

"Nope."

"He probably just needs time. You know how he is." There was a good few minutes of quiet, while Nathan tried to make sense of everything. After a while, they both sat up at the sound of the lift. The doors opened, and Simon walked out, looking at Alisha in surprise.

"You're early." Simon told her.

"Just getting in some girl-talk before the rest get here." Alisha shrugs, sharing a small smile with Nathan.

"Oh, ok." Simon shuffles awkwardly, before walking over by them and setting his laptop bag down. 

"Jerry McGuire tonight?" Simon asks Nathan, as he leans in for a kiss. Nathan basks in the attention.

"Sounds perfect." Nathan grins as they pull away.

"Aw you two are so cute together." Alisha offers. Nathan laughs a little shyly, and Simon almost blushes, smiling softly. Nathan's phone starts ringing, saving him from an honest moment.

"Kel, what's up?"

"These idiots brought a couch all the way over here. I kept telling them it wouldn't fit in the lift, but they just kept trying. Anyways the lift is jammed, and we need you to call it down; see if you can dislodge it down there." Nathan laughed

"Classic. Alright hang on." He went over to the lift, Alisha and Simon following curiously. It took some finessing, once Simon and Alisha had recovered from their shock, but they were able to pull it out and send the lift up for the others. They spent most of the day hanging out there, and eventually all made it outside to say their good nights.

"So we'll get some paints, a nice baby blue or light pink-"

"That's not what we mean when we say we need to get it ready for the baby." 

"And we'll grab a crib! Can't forget that." Nathan continues.

"Whatever, give it time, we'll set the place up right." Curtis shrugs. 

"Aw, ok, who wants to put a hand on the baby?" Nathan asks, lifting up his shirt.

"Come on man." Curtis scoffs. 

"Nathan how far along are you?" Nikki asks, going to put her hand on his stomach.

"Well we don't know fer sure, but about a month." Nathan shrugs, Nikki shares an unreadable expression with the others, and Curtis rubs her back supportively.

"What?"

"Babies don't grow that fast." Nikki explains, hand still on his stomach. Simon is suddenly in Nathan's space, placing a hand next to Nikki's.

"I told you I was already showing. Barry said I was just fat." 

"I didn't!" Simon protests. 

"Well the baby is super powered." Seth shrugged. Kelly put one hand on Seth, and the other on Nathan's shoulder.

"We'll figure it out, yeah?"

"No matter what this kid is going to have the best family." Alisha promises Nathan, leaning into the group. Nathan actually felt warm. And, kind of...bubbly? Too bubbly. Almost disorienting. Wasn't it night time a second ago? Everyone stepped back, taking in their new surroundings. They were still just outside the flat, all circled around the lift doors, but everything was different. 

"What just happened?" Simon is the first to ask, before the lift doors open, and the man in the mask is standing before them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom. Second part of the fic set up. Let's ride this train wreck as far as it'll go


	16. Chapter 16

There's a tense moment where no one moves, before Alisha pushes past the group, and throws her arms around the man in the mask.

"What are you doing here?" The man asks, but allows himself to hold her tightly.  
"You shouldn't be here."

"I don't know, I don't," Alisha almost laughs, not letting go of the man as she turns back towards the others.  
"Did we just travel back in time?"

"Why Jamie you little scamp." Nathan said to his own stomach.

"You-you can't," the man in the mask almost stuttered. 

"I told you he was already here." Seth whispered to Kelly.

"When did you come from" the man in the mask demands, looking between Seth, Nikki, and Simon; the latter two still holding a hand on Nathan's stomach.

"The future, you know, the one where you died." Nathan managed to bite back. The man turned, placing his hands on Alisha, giving her his full attention.

"Did you tell him? Who knows about me?" He asks her quietly, rubbing his thumbs against her shoulders.

"I told Nathan, that's all." Alisha tells him.

"Well Kelly and Seth know." Nathan adds.

"Know what?" Simon asks, each of them taking their own time to adjust to what had happened.

"You can't be here." The man tells all of them. 

"Look prick, your past, or future or whatever, it doesn't exist." Nathan huffs. He wanted to prove this wasn't his Simon, but more than that, he wanted the man to know it too.

"You're from the future?" Simon asks the man in the mask. The man doesn't answer, instead glancing at his watch. 

"I have to go. Alisha, please, please wait here. We'll figure this out, but you can't tell them, you can't change the future." He pleads. Alisha looks away, almost ashamed.

"We already have! Or was I pregnant in your timeline too?" Nathan sneers.

"Nathan," Alisha sighs, before turning back to the masked man.  
"Go." She tells him. He nods, before stepping past them, and breaking into a sprint.

"What the hell is going on?" Curtis finally asks.

"Ok, everyone calm down." Kelly huffs.  
"Alisha, Nathan, Seth, a word." She huffs, nodding off to the side. Curtis, Nikki and Simon stay, watching the rest walk off a ways.

"We've got to tell him." Kelly says.

"What good would that do?" Alisha asks almost frantically.

"I agree with Alisha." Nathan says selfishly. He wanted Alisha's Simon to know that the real Simon was his. But having his Simon know about Alisha's, that was a bit more unsettling.

"Simon can handle it, right? And it sounds like we'll need his help to get home. So we'll need him to get along with himself." Seth shrugs.

"What if," Alisha starts, biting her lip nervously.

"Alisha," Kelly warns, sympathetically.

"What if we don't go home?" Alisha continues anyways.  
"What if we stay, we can save this Simon, and help him save us!" She almost begs.

"And have two Simons running around?" Seth sighs.

"Three." Nathan corrects. Seth gestures to him.

"Three. Right. Look we all care about Simon but there's so many of us in this moment of time, and we are in way over our heads."

"See I don't know about all that." Nathan mused.  
"Now hear me out, right? Alisha's Simon told her she and my Simon had to fall in love, but they didn't, and now Simon and I are having a baby. So her Simon shouldn't exist. But he does. She remembers him, and he's also actually here. So? I don't think time really cares what we do." 

"So you're with me?" Alisha asks hopefully. 

"I'm with you sister." Nathan grins.

"You're really going to change the past?" Seth asks, disbelievingly.

"Hell I'd say it's what we've been doing all along. You two in?" Nathan asks. Kelly and Seth share a silent conversation before Seth sighs, and Kelly smiles.

"We're in." 

"So what do we tell Simon?" Seth asks. 

"We'll tell them part of it, but the rest, I think we should wait for my Simon to come back." Alisha sighs.

"Alright, just, let me have a moment." Nathan says, already walking back to his man. Simon accepts Nathan's closeness, as Nathan wraps his arms around him.  
"I love you, Simon." Nathan says again, needing to say it again. He kisses Simon's temple lightly.

"So what do we do?" Simon asks him. Nikki and Curtis watch carefully both waiting for an answer as well.

"Well, Alisha's going to tell a little story, and then we wait for the masked guy to come back, drop some bomb shells, argue about time travel, and go from there." Nathan shrugs.

The seven ended up sitting in a circle on the blacktop as Alisha told her story. She didn't tell them who the man in the mask was, but everything else, from the time travel, to falling in love, she told them freely.  
"And then," Alisha took a shakey breath.   
"And then he died in my arms." Nathan and Kelly sat on either side of her, calming her through out the story.

"So why didn't you meet him? Before he went back in time I mean." Simon asks. 

"I did. But, it wasn't right. It's not him."

"But it would become him." Simon tried to clarify.

"Simon." Kelly warned.

"I'm just trying to understand." Simon said quietly. Alisha shrugs.

"Maybe I should have tried. But honestly I-" she choked past a small sob, she had gotten through so much of it, but that bravery was wearing thin.

"She told me," Nathan started, giving Alisha a break.  
"I can't do something I don't want to do, out of fear of losing what's already gone.' I thought that was pretty poetic." Nathan explained. Alisha leaned her head on his shoulder a little.

"That must have been hard for you." The man in the mask said as he walked towards them. The group jumped to their feet.  
"I'm sorry I put you through that." He told her as the two gravitated towards each other naturally. 

"It's just so good to see you again; the real you." She smiled.

"You too." The man ran his gloved thumb over her jawline, across her cheek. Nathan knew how that felt first hand. He wasn't jealous. They weren't the same person.  
"But we need to get you home; you don't belong here."

"About that." Nathan started.   
"Some of us were thinking we'd stick around." Getting under old Simon's skin was becoming quite the bonus. 

"You can't." The masked man tells Nathan sternly.

"Oh, same way I can't get pregnant?" Nathan bites back.

"Why do you keep saying that?" The man in the mask demands.

"Simon knocked him up while he was shapeshifting." Curtis explains crudely. The man freezes, looking over to Alisha.

"He's not you." Alisha tells him.

"Who?" Nikki asks, looking between them all.

"It doesn't matter. There's no telling what effects this could have, having us all here. You need to go."

"No!" Alisha huffed.  
"I'm not leaving you again!"

"Alisha," The man says softly, pulling her in for one of his comfort hugs.  
"This has already happened. It's suppose to happen like this."

"No offense, Alisha, but I think yours might be broken." Nathan laughed, earning a glare from Alisha, Kelly, and presumably the man in the mask.  
"Look man, we're staying. So you can either let us inside, or I'll go crash with my past self; maybe explore a little selfcest." Nathan wiggles his eyebrows.

"I forgot how infuriating you can be." The man in the mask tells him.

"Don't try to break my heart, my Simon's got dibs there." He pointed at the man threateningly.

"Stop." The man tells him.

"Nathan." Kelly sighs.

"Ok, alright." Nathan raises his hands in surrender, but the way the masked man goes to hold Alisha, kiss Alisha, pushes him just too far.  
"Melon fucker."

"Nathan!" Alisha and Kelly both yell at him.

"Nathan?" Simon asks, touching his arms lightly. 

"Fine, if that's how you want it." The man in the mask huffs, before pulling down his hood, and removing his mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue the start of the really confusing nature of writing past selves and future selves in the same scene. Hope it's still readable lol


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're actually leaving Nathan's perspective for a while. Quite the twist

"What-How" Simon gaped at the other version of himself.

"Alisha fell in love with me. And I fell for her. Eventually I found out that she had been in a relationship with the future version of myself. That I would travel back in time, and become the man in the mask." He explained, and Simon was almost dizzy. He held onto Nathan's arm for support.

"That-that didn't happen." He says flatly.

"Not in your timeline, no." He looks to Alisha, kissing her forehead lightly. Nathan could almost hit him.  
"You might as well come inside then. No more than four at a time." He tells them, calling up the lift and gesturing them in. Nikki, Curtis, Kelly, and Seth are the first to go down.

"Nathan, Alisha, I'd like a word alone with-with myself." Nathan's Simon tells them. Alisha's Simon kisses her forehead again.

"You two go on. We're just going to have a one on one." Alisha's Simon jokes. Nathan makes an immature face at him, and Alisha leads them into the lift, leaving both Simons outside.

Once in the flat, Nathan sighs. Curtis and Seth are looking disapprovingly at an empty space around the corner.

"We worked so hard to get that couch down here." Seth sighs.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Nathan asks Alisha nervously. 

"Some nerd shite probably." Alisha huffed, but her smile never faded. 

"You were joking about us staying, right?" Nikki asks them.

"Why not?" Nathan huffs.  
"Can't screw up the timeline any worse."

The two Simons walked down the road, quietly for a few minutes. Finally the older Simon sighs at his younger self.

"So you and Nathan?" He huffs. The young Simon blushes.

"He loves me." He defends.

"Alisha loves you."

"She doesn't, she-she loves you." 

"Were the same person. She might not see that, but you do." The older Simon explains.

"But what if I don't love her?"

"You will. She's incredible, you know that."

"Of course she is. And I love her for that the same way I love Kelly, or Curtis. We've been through a lot together."

"You're only with Nathan because he clung onto you before Alisha ever had a chance." Simon huffs.

"What do you know? How do you know you're not the one missing out?" The younger Simon seethes.

"How's Marny?" His older counterpart asks back almost coldly.

"I don't... who's Marny?"

"Marny is the woman that Nathan falls in love with. In my timeline they move to Vegas, they have a little boy."

"You're lying." The young Simon huffed.  
"Nathan loves me." He says again.

"Nathan is needy, and crude. Why would you stay with him when you could be with someone like Alisha?"

"Alisha's right. We're not the same person." The younger one shakes his head.

"So what, you're saying Matt was right about us? Are you gay, Simon?" The older Simon bit out.

"I-I'm not." The young Simon stuttered. He wasn't, but Nathan...  
"Nathan's different. You wanted him too, once." He defends.

"The tattoo? You know we didn't." The older Simon scoffed.

"No, now you're lying again. Do you remember how he looked at us? We knew from the start that it wasn't real, but we wanted it to be." The younger one was sure of this. They weren't the same person, but up until a point, their memories aligned.

"Because we were needy! Because we wanted to be loved! That had nothing to do with Nathan, of all people."

"We touched ourself to the thought of him that night, remember?" He laughed. It wasn't like him, but really, he was just talking to himself.

"Don't go there!" Simon huffed.  
"I'm in love with a gorgeous woman."

"And I'm in love with a gorgeous man. Are you really trying to make me feel bad about that? Are you any better than Matt?" The younger challenged. The older Simon tried to respond, but it seemed to die on his lips.  
"I'm not you. And I'm not in love with Alisha. Either let us stay and save your life, or leave the woman you love all alone, to grieve for you all over again." It was a blunt ultimatum, the only two options.

"This isn't suppose to happen." Simon sighed, rubbing his eyes a little.

"I'm starting to think nothings suppose to happen." Younger Simon laughed softly.  
"Spend enough time with Nathan, you might learn how to let life just happen on its own." He smiles.

"That's how people end up dead." 

"Not everyone can have their death planned down to the second. Even I know that isn't healthy. The truth is, you're not looking for an out. You want to die. All this," Simon gestured to his older self's outfit.  
"And everything with Alisha, it might as well be your suicide note."

"I haven't wanted to die in a long time, you know that."

"The last time I wanted to die was right before Nathan got that tattoo." The younger Simon smiled.

"That was also the day Alisha sat down with us, bought us a soda, you remember?" The older Simon challenged back.

"Is that where she fell in love with you?" The younger one asked.

"I don't know. But she was kind, and vulnerable. She made us feel appreciated, needed and wanted even. Nathan couldn't ever do that."

"He has his own way of showing things." The younger Simon laughed.  
"But when he's looking up at me, soft and interested, like he did that night; only now, there's no tattoo. It's just me and him, and of course it's not perfect, but he loves me. I can see it when he looks at me. And if you're so sure he and I aren't meant to be together, maybe you should pay closer attention." The two Simon's both stood their ground, before finally, the older Simon sighed.

"Fine. You can stay for now, and we'll figure the rest out as we go. You're right about one thing; I can't put Alisha through this again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys rock


	18. Chapter 18

By the time the two Simon's made it back down to the flat, Alisha was already distributing blankets and setting up areas to sleep in on the floor. It wasn't great, but it had been a long day.

"It's nine in the morning." Future Simon frowned.

"Well two hours ago it was one in the morning for the rest of us, so; yay sleepovers." Nathan replied through a yawn.

"I don't have time for this." The future Simon huffed.

"Wait," Alisha pleaded softly.  
"Just stay with me for a while?" She asked, softening her Simon considerably.

"How could I say no?" He tells her softly. Each couple had their own area, and in the dark, Nathan huddled close to his Simon.

"Are you ok?" Nathan whispers in his ear. Simon turns to him, barely illuminated by the soft glow of the clocks on the wall. Simon brings a hand up, caressing Nathan's cheek lightly.

"Do you want to take a walk?" Simon asks him quietly. Nathan huffs, stretching his arm over Simon's chest before nodding. Simon leads Nathan by the hand into the lift. Once outside, Simon squeezes Nathan's hand lightly.

"How long have you known about him, about me?" Simon asks, not meeting Nathan's eye. Nathan huffs consideringly. 

"Before we fucked, but after I asked you out? Just after I found out you turned back time to turn me down." Nathan recapped, still a little bitter about that, not that he'd ever say it.

"After, so, you don't like me because of him?" Simon asked nervously.

"No, I've liked you since the tattoo!" Nathan replied defensively.

"So, it's because of the tattoo." Simon almost deflated.

"Well yes, but also no?" Nathan asked. He was almost starting to panic. This seemed like one of those moments that had a right and wrong answer. 

"Nathan, why do you love me?" Simon asked seriously, and Nathan scoffed. 

"It's not like I had a choice in the matter believe me! Ok, that came out wrong, what I'm saying is the tattoo opened a lot of doors in my mind that I would have preferred to keep shut! But of all the blokes I could have fallen for, I'm glad it was you!" Ok, he was actually starting to panic. What had his Simon and the other one talked about? 

"Are you gay?" Simon asks, trying to sound gentle.

"You know I'm not a label guy!" Nathan scoffed.

"You were pretty adamant about labels asking me to be your boyfriend." Simon frowns.

"Well sure, but that label's like a magic leash to keep you out of some murderer's slutty little bed."

"Jessica didn't murder anyone, why do you always bring that up?" Simon blushes.

"Because the tattoo was gone and I was still in love with you! And you didn't even consider that my feelings might be real!" Nathan was almost starting to raise his voice now.

"But they weren't. They were put there by that tattoo." He was using his calm 'trying to understand' voice, and Nathan hated it.

"I liked you before that, ok?" Nathan huffed.  
"I didn't really know it, but; I've thought about it a lot, ok? I've liked you ever since you threw that box at me. I was fine ignoring it until the tattoo, but then I kissed you and let myself be in love with you, and I couldn't go back." Nathan held himself. He hated talking about feelings and shit. Simon reached out, holding his hand against Nathan's jawline.

"Threw a box? You mean before we even knew you were immortal? You've fancied me for that long?" Simon 

"Better than I imagined, mind you." Nathan smiles, and Simon brushes his thumb over Nathan's dimple.

"I never let myself fancy anyone like this; I tried before, but this... isn't trying, not really." Simon muses aloud.

"Are you calling me easy?" Nathan teased.

"I'm saying I know who I am when you look at me like that. I don't care what was meant to happen in another timeline. You make me feel like I'm meant to be right here, with you." Simon tells him honestly. Nathan licks his lips nervously, beyond jokes and into unfamiliar territory. So he does the one thing Simon's asked of him.

"I love you, Simon Bellamy." Nathan tells him, soft smile, and warm, loving eyes. The two jump as the lift doors open, and the masked man steps out.  
"Where do you think you're going?" Nathan bites out at the intrusion. The man huffs, pulling down his hood and removing his mask.

"I'm on a timer, you'll be surrounded by that virtue cult soon." Future Simon huffs.

"Ooh, I remember that, yeah, that was when the two of you left me to die!" Nathan says, pointing between the two.

"Nathan," the younger Simon says softly as the older Simon rolls his eyes.

"I don't have time for this." He scoffed.

"Now hang on, if you're going to mess with our timeline, we're coming too, right Barry?" Nathan says definitively. His Simon gaped at him.

"What? No." The older Simon shoots down.  
"I know exactly where I need to go, you'll slow me down." The older one tells them.

"Just try to out run us!" Nathan challenges, and future Simon huffs, before breaking into a sprint.  
"After him!" Nathan yells to his Simon before chasing the older one down.

"Wait! Nathan!"


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because this chapter and the last really should have just been one chapter

"Nathan!" The younger Simon called, running after him. It wasn't hard to catch up, even with the few seconds it took for Simon to realize that yes, Nathan was actually chasing Simon's older self.   
"Let him save you." Simon huffed out, although not nearly as out of breath as Nathan was getting. 

"That bastard just dumps me on the side of the road! I can save me way better than he could!" Nathan wheezes out, stopping to catch his breath. He leans against the railing, looking down on the street below them. Simon puts a hand on Nathan's shoulder.

"You shouldn't exert yourself, and you really shouldn't put yourself and our baby anywhere near danger." Simon tells him seriously, but softly.

"He's going to try to make sure we never get together, I can feel it." Nathan finally admits.

"But we are together. His future timeline, this past timeline, they aren't us, right?" Simon moves closer, confidence building as Nathan reaches for him.

"I know." Nathan glances at Simon's lips, thinking of how damn lucky he is, out of every timeline, to be able to be here with his Simon. He leans down, kissing Simon sweetly. Simon smiles into the kiss, pushing a little more intensity to it. Nathan moans a little, giving as good as he's getting, and pushing Simon back against the railing. 

"Now that's an immoral act if I've ever seen one." Nathan's voice calls out from beneath them. Nathan and Simon separate, looking in shock down over the railing at the younger Nathan, who had gone a little pale as he recognized them.

"Don't look at me like that! Weird shit happens all the time!" The older Nathan yelled down.

"This is really bad." Simon blushed.

"Just don't tell anyone and it'll be fine." The older Nathan yelled down again.

"Who am I going to tell? The weird kids the only one left, but he's up there snogging on me!" Nathan bit back.

"I'm not Simon; it's complicated, just, you have a cult to take down, please, forget about this," Simon pleaded, and the younger Nathan just shrugged. Dusting himself and walking away.

"Burned in my eyes now mate, thanks for that!" He called over his shoulder.

"That was really bad." Simon sighed, leaning his head against his Nathan's chest.

"Nah, he's a tough kid, he'll get over it. Although, I was already starting to fancy you during all this. Yeah, maybe it'll be a problem." Nathan shrugged. 

"Great. Let's just head back to the others." Simon huffs. The two walk arm in arm back the way they came.

"He's gonna die for the first time today." Nathan tells him quietly, after a minute of quiet along their walk.

"I know."

"We could always just tell him he's immortal." Nathan tries to say nonchalantly. Simon stops to give him a sympathetic look.

"Nathan, this isn't; is this about your nightmares?" Simon asks carefully, and Nathan tries to laugh.

"What? No, I just don't think he needs to be buried alive for as long as I was. Maybe we could help the guy out." Nathan shrugged, not meeting Simon's questioning gaze.

"We've already messed up the timeline, and we haven't even been here a day." Simon tells him softly.

"Ok, fine, how about this;" Nathan starts, giving Simon his full attention though his pitch.  
"We go to his funeral, wait for everyone to leave, dig him up, then re-bury him before the others get back." Nathan was watching Simon carefully, exuding hope for this new idea. Simon thinks about it carefully.

"If... if it means this much to you, then yes, I'll do it with you. But I don't think we should go to the funeral." Simon compromises. Nathan frowns.

"Fine, but attending ones own funeral seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity." Nathan huffs back. Simon takes Nathan's hand in his, gently running his thumb over Nathan's own.

"They'll bury him tonight. And they'll come back tomorrow after community service. Are you sure we can dig him up and rebury him in time?" Simon asks, but he's already on board.

"Sure, I'll bring the guy some crisps and fresh pants, he'll be so grateful he'll do about anything to help us." Nathan shrugs.

"Alright. We'll head back to the others, try to get some sleep, and head out after that." Simon sighs. Nathan doesn't know how to thank him; he's never been good with those words when it counts. Instead, he nods, and hopes Simon can read it in his eyes.


	20. Chapter 20

Nathan awoke to the noise and bustle of the crowded flat. It seemed everyone else was awake and arguing.

"Because I told you I wanted an almond scone."

"No, you said, and I quote! An almond or lemon scone!" Alisha bit back.

"I don't even like lemons, why would I say that?" Nikki huffed.

"It's fine, Nikki, we'll go to the bakery ourselves." Curtis sighs.

"She remembered everyone else's order."

"Excuse me," Nathan starts, groaning as he stretches and walks over.  
"But if there's a lemon scone just laying around, I'd be happy to take it off your hands." He shrugged.

"Oh no. Balanced meals, remember?" Alisha tells him, rummaging through the bags and handing him a large to go container.

"Unbelievable." Nikki shook her head, waiting for the lift doors.

"Uh, he's pregnant? It's nothing personal." Alisha defended, but the doors were already closing behind Nikki and Curtis.

"She is not a morning person." Alisha explained.

"Where's Barry?" Nathan asked, noticing both Simon's missing.

"Both of our Simons went out for a run." Alisha says happily, sitting across from Nathan at the small table. Nathan looked over her shoulder to watch Seth and Kelly quietly debating to themselves.

"You know our younger selves are facing that shapeshifting bitch tomorrow." Nathan tells her. Alisha makes a face.

"Don't remind me. I love my Simon, but some mental bitch using my face to, ick." She shutters.

"You don't remind me, that was my Simon your face blew." Nathan huffed back.

"Well, we got through it alright, I'm sure our younger selves will do fine." Alisha shrugs.

"You really don't want to go down there? Punch that shapeshifting bitch in her creepy little face?" Nathan asks her quietly, leaning across the table.

"Nathan," Alisha shakes her head.  
"I really don't think we should interfere. Leave that to my Simon, he's prepared for this." Alisha says softly.

"Fine." Nathan huffs. 

"You kept up better than I thought you would." The older Simon says, perched on the edge of a rooftop. The younger Simon sighs, as he sits next to him.

"So this is what you do? Run on roof tops and manipulate the timeline?" The younger one asks, taking in the sight from such a high vantage point. The sun was starting to set, and Nathan's funeral would be ending soon.

"I save people who need to be saved. I do everything I did before; it's my destiny." The masked man explained with a smile, handing a water bottle over to his younger self.

"The man in the mask." The young Simon muses, an almost joking tone to his voice.  
"He helped us so many times, I can see why you feel you have to do this. Right up to your death."

"We all die, eventually." The older Simon admits  
"Best we can do is buy our friends a little more time."

"It doesn't have to be that way, not this time." The younger one assured him.

"It always has to be this way. That's what destiny is." The older one said, unwavering.

"You haven't said anything about Nathan's and my baby" The young Simon coaxes. 

"You're an anomaly. Honestly I thought time would correct itself; that one of us would have vanished by now."

"Yeah, I thought about that. But Nathan's right. I don't think time cares what we do. So we might as well be happy, and be there for each other." There was a solemn silence between them for a while, before the younger Simon sighed.  
"I'm going to head back; I'm sure Nathan's getting worried. Are you coming?" 

"No, I have one more stop to make." The older one shrugs, waving half heartedly at his younger self, before getting up and leaping away.

"So you really don't want to go down there and punch that shapeshifting bitch in her creepy little face?" Nathan asks Kelly, as they and Seth sit outside. 

"Not really." Kelly huffs.

"Why am I not surprised that the first thing you want to do after traveling through time is to muck it up?" Seth asks.

"No muckery!" Nathan says, offended.  
"But if there were muckery we'd be doing it as a team, yeah?" Nathan asks, pointing at both of them. Kelly looked at Seth pointedly.

"I-I wasn't going to do something like that." Seth defends.

"He wants to borrow money from his younger self." Kelly huffs.

"It's not muckery; think about it; I knew Simon back then-back now-and Simon already told me he's from the future! If anyone should meet themselves it should be me." Seth defends.

'Probably shouldn't tell them about last night.' Nathan thought to himself loudly.

"What happened last night?" Kelly asks, suspicious.

"Oh-you know. Normal. Muckery." Nathan huffed.

"Nathan." Kelly coaxed.

"Ok, Simon and I may have been caught making out by my younger self, ok?"

"Nathan!" Kelly gaped, as Seth ran his hands over his face.

"What! That little fucker doesn't care! He just died, I'm sure he's got more important things on his mind." Nathan looked around for a distraction.  
"Oh! I think that's Barry!" Nathan hopped up, rushing towards Simon and enveloping him in a hug.

"Uhm, hi?" Simon almost squeaks.

"Hi lover. Now don't be mad, but I kind of told Kelly about last night. Or, this morning, I suppose. I'm still pretty jet lagged, how are you doing?" Nathan rushed out.

"What did she say?" Simon asks, glancing over to where Kelly and Seth were sitting.

"Well nothing, not yet. Care to handle this load with me? That came out wrong." 

"Nathan are you nervous?" Simon asked. Nathan was generally very expressive, but it usually made it hard to tell what he was really feeling; subtle tells getting lost in the surrounding theatrics.

"Does that sounds like me? Let's focus on this Kelly thing." Nathan suggests.

"We can deal with that later, but for now we should head to the cemetery." Simon tells him, and Nathan almost melts a little.

"Right. Let's go let the poor guy get some air." Nathan smiles. They wave to Kelly and Seth, before heading out.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God it feels good writing so much like this.

"This is taking forever." Nathan huffed, falling back against the grass dramatically.

"Last time we dug you up, we had the whole team." Simon spiked his shovel in the dirt and leaned on it, catching his breath.

"As much as I hate hard work, it would go faster if I helped." Nathan sort of offered.

"Not until you see a doctor. I don't want you hurting yourself; or our baby." Simon told him seriously, before taking another breath and getting back to digging. 

"We're both immortal anyways." Nathan muttered to himself. A few more minutes and they had the casket unearthed. It was still in the hole, but it was cleared. Simon looked to Nathan, who just shrugged. Simon knocked hesitantly.

"Uhm, hello? Nathan?" Simon asked through the wood. He huffed, before climbing out the hole.

"We have crisps and clean pants!" Nathan called, peeking his head over the hole. There was some creaks and bangs before the casket door opened, and the younger Nathan stretched his way out.

"Could have lead with that." He huffed, looking between the two suspiciously.  
"I'll take those pants first, if you don't mind." He stares them down as he starts undoing his belt. Simon whirls around embarrassed.

"What? It nothing you haven't seen!" The older Nathan laughed, causing the younger Nathan to laugh along. It was a nightmare.

"So you two fruit bags want to tell me what all this is? Why he's wearing my face?" The younger Nathan asks, far more reasonably than Simon would have guessed.

"Oh we're just a hallucination brought on by your poor homosexually depraved brain." The older Nathan tells him.

"Nathan!" Simon huffs. He really was going to talk to even himself like that, although it shouldn't have surprised Simon.  
"We're from the future." Simon tells him honestly.

"Now that better be a joke; I'm way too good at drinking to get a beer belly like that." The younger Nathan huffed, gesturing to his older counterpart.

"I'll have you know I am pregnant!" Nathan huffs dramatically.

"Why did I let you talk me into this?" Simon groans.

"So weird kid, you're gay then?" Younger Nathan teased.  
"I knew it." He whispers loudly to his older self.

"I-I'm not, I'm bisexual." Simon huffs, flattening his hair nervously.

"Aw isn't he adorable?" The older Nathan gloats, watching his Simon with appraising eyes.

"He's even got a label for it!" The younger Nathan jokes, and Simon smiles.

"I'm not the one pushing labels, though." Simon grins, managing to catch his Nathan with a blush. The younger Nathan looks between them for a moment before sighing loudly.

"Well this has been sufficiently bazaar, but I better go tell my mum I'm immortal." The younger Nathan shrugs.

"Wait!" Simon said suddenly.

"Can't let you leave, mate." Nathan told him.

"We're going to have to bury you again before the others show up." Simon explains.

"Then why dig me up at all?" Nathan says, slowly taking steps backwards.

"Stop there or I will use my laser eyes to kill you." The older Nathan threatens.

"We're immortal, we don't have laser eyes." The younger Nathan scoffed. 

"I am more powerful than you could possibly imagine." Nathan continues.

"We didn't want you to have to stay in the coffin for so long." Simon explains.  
"But you can't tell anyone we were here. They have to think they dug you up. Does that make sense?" He asked carefully.

"What's in it for me?" The young Nathan asked, arms crossed.

"Clean pants and crisps." Nathan reiterated. His younger self considers it before shrugging.

"Alright. So how'd you two fruit buckets end up shagging?" The younger Nathan asked, and once again Simon was astounded at Nathan's natural adaptability.

"Oh, very romantic," the older Nathan started, throwing his arm over his younger self's shoulders.

"Nathan we really shouldn't tell him too much about the future." Simon frowned.

"Fine, fine, we'll stick to the juicy bits." Nathan waved off, before leaning into his younger self and whispering in his ear. Whatever he said managed to make the younger one blush. Only Nathan could pull that off, Simon guessed.

"This was such a bad idea." Simon restates.

"Nah, we've got plenty of time." the older Nathan grins.

"Now, Nathan," the older Nathan starts  
"Unfortunately, we arrived here kind of spur of the moment, so I didn't get a chance to grab all the winning lotto numbers, but what I can tell you, is there is a largely unsupervised amount of scotch in the probation workers personal cabinet; the combination for which turns out to be four two six eight. Took me months to crack that." Nathan tells them, as Simon watches on with no idea how to tame this train wreck.

"What about you weird kid? Any great advise?" The younger Nathan asks, still wary of them.

"N-no, we shouldn't be interfering at all." Simon tells him.

"Well unless you plan on re-burying me alive again already, we've got some time to kill." 

"There are some things I wish could've gone differently." Nathan thinks aloud.

"Nathan, don't." Simon warns.

"Maybe there's someone that the man in the mask should've saved?" The older Nathan continues.

"Nathan," Simon breathes out sympathetically, moving to Nathan's side instantly. Nathan's demeanor is almost cold. Simon reaches up and brushes his thumb over Nathan's cheek.  
"Why didn't he save him." Nathan asks, half to Simon, but mostly just to ask.

"Well this is getting tense." The younger Nathan joked.

"Nathan," Simon says softly, trying to pull his Nathan's attention. Nathan finally looks at him, softening a fraction before kissing Simon's forehead.  
"Its fine. I'll ask him myself when we get home." Nathan promises, holding Simon securely.

"You two are adorable, you know that?" The young Nathan teased.

"You shouldn't let this alter your future though." Simon tells him.

"Please, like I want to end up like you lot." The young Nathan huffed, but Simon has gotten good at reading him, even the young cocky one, apparently.

"I think we should tell him about the man in the mask, about Alisha." Simon tells his Nathan.

"And confuse the poor lad even more?" He huffed.

"I'm confused plenty, feel free to tell me anything!" The young Nathan weasels.  
"You did say four two six eight?" He clarified, and the older version nods.

"Fate isn't written in stone." Simon says confidently.  
"Just because we were lucky enough to find each other, doesn't mean your timeline will go the same way." He warns.

"Last timeline Alisha and Barry end up together." Nathan huffs, and the younger one laughs.

"Well clearly he has a type, who knew the weird kid would actually have good taste? Hey he ever make you do any weird armpit stuff?" The young version asks, to Simon's horror.

"Nah, he's so buttoned up I haven't even gotten him up my back door yet." The older Nathan laughs. Simon groans, burying his face in Nathan's chest a little more. The two Nathan's kept joking, but Simon's attention was pulled to the bump of Nathan's stomach. He was showing, even more prominently. He splayed his hand across it, feeling the tight skin and; movement.

"I think she just kicked." Simon says suddenly.

"That's preposterous! I'm just gassy." The older Nathan laughs.

"We really need to find a doctor that can handle this." Simon continues. It was very clear that this wasn't going to be a normal pregnancy.

"Were you serious about being knocked up?" The young Nathan asks, pushing past them to put a hand on his older self's stomach. Simon reaches over, moving the younger Nathan's hand over a few inches. After a second, the young Nathan jumped.

"There's a baby in there!" He exclaimed.

"What a magical moment to share with myself graveside." The older Nathan muses.

"You two are having a baby?" The young Nathan asks, seemingly at a loss for words. Simon shrugs, light smile on his face.

"Play your cards right, you could get knocked up too." Nathan says beaming. The younger version seems to consider this. He looks over to Simon, almost curiously.

"You do know I'm a homeless, right?" He asks.

"Technically we all are right now." Simon replies uneasily.

"Mooching off the man in the mask." The older Nathan clarifies with a laugh. The three are uncharacteristically quiet for a while. The older Nathan holds his Simon, and the younger one considers it all wordlessly. After a while, Simon sighs.

"We should get back to the others soon." He tells his Nathan quietly. They were taking enough of a risk as it is, standing out here in the daylight like this.

"Alright, you heard the man, back in the box." He huffs at his younger self. The younger Nathan rolls his eyes.

"Ok, but just tell me one thing." The young Nathan leans over to his older counterpart, lowering his voice considerably.  
"You know that one fantasy with the thing? You two ever try that?" He's looking at Simon suspiciously.

"Whatever you're talking about, the answers no." Simon sighs.

"Not yet." The older Nathan corrects. 

"Can we get this over with?" Simon almost whines.

"Sure love." The older Nathan smiles, gesturing his younger self into the hole.

"Alright! Fine." The young Nathan huffs.  
"But you know I'm not going to be able to keep this from Kelly." He threatens.

"Just, try." Simon says, slightly defeated. He hadn't considered that unburying and re-burying would be the easy part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Simon in over his head is just too fun


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, short chapter here...  
>  And I have some good news and some bad news.   
> Bad news is I'm gonna be taking a break from this fic again. I had some crazy family drama yesterday, plus I've been writing so much my thoughts are showing up in Times New Roman. So definitely need a break.   
> Good news is I'm still somewhat working on ch 31, so I'll update up to that periodically. And who knows maybe then I'll be back to writing or you'll be sick of reading lol. Anyways, hope you still enjoy somehow

"Where the hell were you two at?" Alisha accuses as the two come down into the flat, both covered in grave dirt.

"Just having a premarital tumble in the dirt." Nathan grins, and Simon rolls his eyes.

"We need to talk about your interference." Future Simon tells them all seriously.

"Kelly and Seth went to see past-Seth." Alisha explains.

"You don't say." Nathan replied cheekily.

"And Curtis and Nikki went to the bakery, where they could have easily been recognized." Future Simon continues.

"I went for a scone, not to change the future!" Nikki defends.

"I can't fix the future if you all start changing it so drastically." He huffs.

"Fix the future. See that's your problem right there." Nathan huffs.

"Do we have a problem?" Future Simon asks, and Alisha places a comforting hand on his arm.

"Yeah, I guess we do. Might as well air it out now, yeah? So why didn't you save Jamie?" Nathan accuses, and the room falls silent.

"That hasn't happened yet, Nathan." The future Simon says patiently.

"So you'll save him this time?" Nathan challenges, but future Simon just smiles sadly.

"I'll save you. Your going to be mortal when you try to run into that burning car. I save you." He tells him seriously.

"Well there's more of us this time, yeah? We'll save him." Nathan tells him.

"If Jamie didn't die, would you ever reconnect with your dad? Would you be mature enough to be a father yourself? What about finding out you can see ghosts? Losing him made you into who you are." Future Simon says easily, and Nathan could snap.

"You don't get to decide that. I had a brother!" He yells.

"Nathan." Kelly says softly, placing her hand on his arm.  
"We'll save him this time. Muckery together, right?" She smiles.

"Right." Nathan huffs.

"Simon," Seth starts, addressing the future Simon.  
"I spoke to my younger self; he's willing to foot the bill to rent out the rest of this building. Three more flats, so tomorrow we can spread out a little; have some privacy." Seth explains.

"You should have talked to me first." Future Simon tells him.

"We're a team again, yeah? Get use to it." Kelly tells him bluntly, and future Simon just shakes his head. 

"I'll walk you out." Alisha sighs, calling down the lift and following future Simon in. When the doors close behind him, Nathan sighs loudly.

"Alright, he's going to send you lot to dig me up, so Now's the time to talk about what we're changing." Nathan tells the group confidently.


	23. Chapter 23

"Well this is a complete waste of time."

"Kelly?"

'Take it to the edge... ah! Pull it back, pull it back... ah! Make it last you little tease! Ok crank it up! Crank it up!'

"Nathan?"

'Oh yeah, Barry, you love it, you beautiful bastard!'

"He's alive!"

"He's dead."

"I heard him, I think he was knocking one out..."

"That does sound like him." The four of them spent the night digging up his coffin, hauling it up and prying the top open. Nathan lay still, arms crossed.

"Maybe you just wanted to hear him."

"He's gone." There's a still moment between them before Nathan leaps up, monster noise and all.

"What the fuck?" Curtis asked as they all flinched back. Nathan burst out laughing.

"You all should see the looks on your faces! Classic! Hey guess what? I'm immortal." Nathan grins at them.  
"I told you I had a power; immortality, that's off the A-list!"

"Were you having a wank in there?" Alisha asks.

"Yeah so what if I was? Man can't enjoy a quick shuffle in his own coffin? Not like I was expecting visitors. But you! You little freak, What was all that on the roof?" Nathan huffed, stalking over to Simon.

"I-I was trying to save you." He stuttered out.

"Well you failed spectacularly." Nathan almost laughed.  
"I need to eat, does anyone got a kabob?"

"Do you want some chewing gum?" Simon offers nervously.

"Tutti-frutti?"

"I like it." Simon shrugs, and Nathan snatches the pack from him.

"So what are you gonna do now?" Kelly asks.

"should probably go tell my mum I'm immortal." Nathan leaned into Simon's space, slapping the empty pack of gum in his hands. He held Simon's chin, giving him a quick kiss in the confusion, before waving and walking off.

"What was.." Simon asked, blush burning. Alisha rolled her eyes.

"He's just winding you up, ignore him." She huffed.

Nathan left the cemetery briskly. Spending so much time in that coffin was horrifying. He was grateful that his pregnant future self thought to give him some kind of break half way through, but if there is a hell, Nathan would guess it would be like that. He tried to collect himself as he knocked on his mother's door. As soon as she opened it, he panicked.

"I'm immortal!" He yelled out. It really wasn't his fault that she fell face first into the radiator.  
He replayed the moment for the group the next day as he got suited up for community service.  
"Blood and teeth everywhere," Their eyes were all on him as he told the story; Simon's eyes were on him. God, what the hell was with him lately. Sure, there was that moment before all the virtue crap where Simon had looked so intense that all Nathan could think about was being pinned down consensually. And maybe later that day Simon ditching him in the virtue cult's circle jerk of virginiziation put a damper on it, but then seeing those two men making out, realizing who they looked like? Who they were. Of course Nathan would be distracted enough to fall off the roof, his mind was all over the place. But he could have probably gotten over even that, if he didn't see them again, after he died. They dug him up. Gave him a break. Talked with him. And worst of all, Nathan got to see how happy they could be together, how well they meshed. His future self had called it romantic. Nathan wondered if it would be like the movies. Romance films had always been his favorite. Nathan kept catching himself watching Simon. He'd have to tear his eyes away every so often and will himself to listen to what was happening and say Something. He knew he was being abnormally quiet. 

"Do you know her?"

"Are you trying to shag her?"

"She's not that mental ill, or maybe she is?" Nathan says suggestively. That's it, just get back in the rhythm.

"Nathan hush,"

"Hey no offense, lots of people say I'm mentally ill, but clearly I'm not, since I'm over here, and you're over there, with the other crazies." The group was going about their day, when Nathan went to the loo. He didn't need to go even, but he wanted a minute away. Kelly seemed like she was trying to corner him, and the last thing he needed was to talk about all these thoughts he's been having. He just needed to get his head clear about this whole Simon thing. Of course it doesn't help that when he walked in, he saw Alisha blowing Simon.  
"RAPE!" Nathan yells, moving quickly to pull Alisha off of Simon, careful not to touch her.

"What-?" Alisha looks scared, scampering away before anyone could do anything. Simon looks at Nathan in shock, blush down to his chest as he puts himself away.

"I didn't touch her; I didn't mean, she came in here and just-"

"Shhh it's ok now Barry," Nathan half teased, pulling Barry into his arms, Simon fidgeted, pushing Nathan back.  
"Hey man, I get it! Even if it weren't for her power, the siren call of the blowjob renders all men powerless. I'm here for you." Nathan says, but Simon just pushes past him, rushing outside.

Nathan wasn't hiding in the bathroom. He definitely wasn't hiding because he was having feelings! But he had barely come to terms with seeing his and Simon's future selves together, and it was being ripped away from him. They said Alisha might end up with him, Nathan didn't think it would happen so soon though. After a long time of gathering himself, Nathan heard shouting from outside. Well, he better get out there. Nathan takes a breath, preparing to put on a show.

"I don't know what's going on with my guts!" Nathan says as he walks out into the group, fanning himself dramatically.  
"It's all hot cross abs and Easter eggs when Jesus gets resurrected." Nathan jokes.

"That wasn't Nathan." Simon gaped.

"Whoever it was, they know we killed our probation workers." Curtis says.

"Did someone kill our probation worker?" Nathan asks, taking in the scene in front of him. He looks at the woman's body in the wheel barrow.  
"Seriously? I spend a few hours in the toilet and I miss all that? Life's really passing me by."

"Who was that just now?" Alisha asks, back on point.

"I think it's a shapeshifter. They can take on other people's appearances. I saw it on an episode of star trek." Simon admits

"We should probably watch more of that science fiction stuff, might actually figure out what's going on around here." Curtis huffs. Nathan winces at the thought of all of them huddled around Simon's geeky movies.

"Wait, so it wasn't Alisha who was-" Nathan started, before mimicking a blowjob, moaning around the nothing in his hand.

"No, it wasn't me." Alisha huffs, and Nathan feels the relief wash over him. It wasn't too late.

"We should set up a password, that we can say to each other so we know it's us." Simon says, adjusting his collar.

"Monkey slut!" Nathan replied instantly.

"We're not having monkey slut as a password." Alisha huffed.

"What are the chances of that being used in a normal conversation?"

"Whatever, let's just go with it; monkey slut." Kelly replies, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah!" Nathan growls, flexing a little.

"We need to find out who it is before they go to the police." Curtis says seriously.

"It's the new probation worker; it's always the probation worker." Alisha huffs back.

"That dead chick was the other dead guy's fiancé right? Maybe this new one's his brother!" Nathan says conspiring 

"He's white. Tony was black." Simon says, looking back at Nathan briefly, hot intensity and a split lip distracting Nathan in all the right ways.

"Uhm, adopted brother? Adopted kids are nut jobs." Nathan laughs out nervously. Focus, Nathan.

"Wait!" Curtis calls to them as they try to run after the creepy girl.

"Right, I will see you tomorrow." The probation worker says, spinning his lanyard.

"Aw good one, very convincing!" Nathan says back.

"Wait, it's not her." Curtis tells them, pulling them into a huddle. He describes them bludgeoning the probation worker.

"Alright what's going on." The probation worker demands. The group straightens up, trying to look innocent.

"Nothing." Simon replies suspiciously.

"Well you're obviously lying." he stares them all down for a minute.  
"But it's five o'clock, and I couldn't give a shit." 

"Have a good one." Curtis calls as the probation worker heads out.  
"Ok go" he whispers, and the group continues their chase.

"Where'd she go?"

"She turned into a mouse!" 

Curtis, Simon and Nathan all stood watch over the mouse hole in the wall, weapons up.

"So what's the story with you and this girl?" Curtis asks, and Nathan's suddenly very interested.

"After I tried to burn that boys house down, they sent me to a psychiatric unit for assessment."

"Really? Can't imagine why." Nathan jokes.

"Lucy was a patient in the unit. I think she's obsessed with me." Simon explained quietly. And Nathan wasn't jealous. There was nothing to be jealous of. He didn't have a patent on obsessing over Simon.

"So it's just that, and the murder, is it? Or is there anything else you'd like to share with the group?" He teased, but Simon wasn't in the mood.

"You expect me to tell you anything after how you've treated me?" Simon asks, looking right at Nathan. And Nathan was genuinely confused.  
"All the names you've called me."

"What names?" Nathan asked, but he did kind of know what Simon was talking about.

"Weird kid, panty sniffer, virgin, Freak, twat, pervert, pedophile; Melon Fucker." Simon huffed, and for some reason, hearing Simon remember each little nick name gave Nathan butterflies. That probably wasn't healthy.  
"I just want to be your friend."

"Sure man." Nathan replied, heart still fluttering.

"Alright." Curtis agreed. It was good, cleared the air a bit. It didn't mean Nathan was going to stop with the names, but he felt closer to Simon now. There was a bit of a comfortable silence, before Nathan began to stretch. 

"So basically, he's had a blowjob off your girlfriend and you haven't?" Nathan grins, always more alight in the chaos.

"Shut up man it wasn't her." Curtis scoffed.

"It looked like her." Nathan replied instantly.

"It wasn't her."

"It had her mouth."

"It wasn't her brain." 

"Who cares about her brain when your balls are resting on her chin?"

"Say another word. I dare you, do it." Curtis threatens.

"I didn't do anything. Be angry with him!" Nathan grins. Predictably, Curtis turns to Simon, who seems to shrink back, stuttering through defending himself awkwardly.

"You didn't know it wasn't Alisha, you should have stopped her!" Curtis huffs angrily.

"Oh come on, man!" Nathan grins, glad to be able to defend Simon.  
"Be serious, that requires an inhuman amount of self restraint that no man is capable of!" Nathan grinned. The mouse darted out and all three of them started screaming, whacking the ground mercilessly. 

"Split up! Find her!" Curtis called. Nathan booked it to where he thought he saw the mouse; there. It was hiding in that box.

"He's! Mine! You! Slutty! Head case!" Nathan huffed thoughtlessly as he bashes in the cardboard box.  
"Ah, gotcha!" Nathan grinned as he pulled out the squashed mouse. He turned to see Simon behind him.  
"Hey! I got the bitch!" He grinned before looking at Simon suspiciously.  
"You didn't hear any of that, did you?" Nathan asked, chucking the mouse over his shoulder. Simon just watched him curiously.

"You want me?" Simon finally asked, looking a little sick.

"What? No. That was all talk. I'm not-that's not what I said." Nathan laughed nervously. Simon reaches up, slowly pulling down his own zipper to expose his chest as he stepped towards Nathan.

"I don't think it was. I think you're jealous." 

"That's ridiculous," Nathan tries to defend, but Simon was sliding his hand across his own chest, giving Nathan a view of some serious muscles. Simon keeps walking closer, until he's whispering in Nathan's ear.

"You can't have him." He growls, before pushing Nathan back. Nathan groans in pain as the pipe pushes through his chest.

"You... slut..." Nathan wheezes, as the mental chick zips back up, leaving him to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love this timeline's Nathan


	24. Chapter 24

"So nobody wants to punch that creepy shapeshifting chick?" The older Nathan huffs, the seven of them lounging in the masked guys flat. Future Simon had left some time ago to save Curtis.

"I don't even know who you're talking about." Nikki sighs.

"Lucy isn't a bad person." The younger Simon frowns.

"Lucy? The shapeshifter?" Seth asks, and the others turn to him.

"You know her?" Kelly almost accuses. Seth shrugs, gesturing towards Nathan.

"She sold her shapeshifting to me."

"Are you telling me My Shapeshifting comes from that weird little mental?" Nathan asks, a little offended.  
"God no, she was so creepy. I'm not that creepy when I shapeshift, right?" Nathan almost pouts at his Simon.

"N-no, you do it much more naturally." Simon assures him.

"Damn straight." Nathan smiles, leaning down for a quick kiss from his man.  
"So fine, we let future Simon do his future thing, and let the mental chick go." Nathan shrugs.

"We should talk about how we're going to save Jamie." Kelly tells them, letting the mood shift back into serious territory. 

"I say, we stake out the club, get a little tipsy, myself not included, and then take out the bitch before she can make a move." Nathan suggests.

"We could kidnap Jamie once he leaves the group." Alisha throws out.

"Ooh, I like that idea." Nathan grins.

"Why don't we just pull him out of the car?" Curtis asks, spinning his chair lazily.

"What if we get there too late?" Simon asks, brow furrowed.

"Or worse, too early, and end up getting an eye full of all that." Nathan huffs.

"So we kidnap him." Kelly shrugs.

"What about the girl?" Simon asks 

"What about her? Who's she to us, anyways?" Nathan huffs.

"She seemed like a good person." Simon defends.

"So what, now were going to stop a young lady from doing drugs? What have we become, man?" Nathan huffs.

The younger Nathan gasped for life, hands immediately feeling the solid flesh that had recently been impaled.

"Hey." Kelly says, almost sadly.

"Hey." Nathan replies, a little confused. 

"I just wanted to make sure you were ok." She shrugs, before getting to her feet. 

"That's it?" Nathan called after her. She stops halfway down the stairs.  
"You aren't going to ask about all the weird things I've been thinking?" 

"Its just how you are. Besides, it's not my business who you fancy." She shrugs, and continues out.

"Huh." Nathan hummed.

The next morning the five of them were basking quietly on the roof of the community center. Of course, with each of them keeping to themselves, Nathan had to put on a show. Some shapeshifting bitch was going to give Nathan a tease of Simon's body, Simon was sure as hell going to get a tease too. Nathan stripped down, lathering himself in lotion dramatically. He could practically feel when Simon's attention shifted to him, and he basked in that moment. He rubbed the lotion on his inner thighs, up to the bikini line, before showing off his ass a little more; wanting Simon to see all his best assets. His attention was broken as a whistle came from the ground below.

"I'm looking for Nathan?" The guy called up to them.

"Why're you looking for him?" Nathan asks. Moments like this are never a good sign.

"I'm his brother." The guy says after a minute.

"I haven't got a brother. I'm a classic example of an only child." Nathan flourishes.

"Not anymore." The man shrugs.

"How is that even possible?" Nathan scoffs, caught off guard.

"We've got the same dad."

"You sure about that?"

"He didn't tell you about me?" 

"Must have slipped his mind." Nathan replied easily. It was just like his prick dad.  
"Yeah ok." Nathan shrugs, to the guys relief.  
"I've always wanted a brother."

The older Nathan paced the length of the flat, the other six watching him carefully.

"Jamie and I'll be headed to the pub about now." He tells them, pretending to look at a watch on his wrist.  
"There we'll meet the ice girl. It's very important that we don't approach her until after she's given me her number; it was a bonding moment for me and Jamie." Nathan explains.

"So we kidnap her after." Alisha shrugs.

"And then what? Keep her tied up here for the next day?" Nikki asks.

"Well if you've got any bright ideas." Nathan scoffed.

"Alisha, Kelly?" Nikki asks, gesturing the girls over to the side.

"Fine so we'll let the girls handle the ice queen. The rest of us will just have to kidnap Jamie at the party." Nathan huffs.

"You're not coming with." Simon tells him seriously.

"What? Just cause of the baby? I'll be careful." Nathan replied indignantly.

"We'll have to move quickly; me and Curtis should handle it." Simon explains.

"Alright." Curtis shrugs.

"Now come on, you're not going to let me save my own brother?" Nathan almost pouts.

"We'll tie them up, bring them to the community center, and leave them there for the younger Nathan to find." Simon explains, glossing over Nathan's pout.

"Two lives saved, sounds good to me." Curtis nods.

"Tying her up is a last resort." Kelly rolls her eyes.

"Do what you want with Jamie, but we'll handle the girl." Alisha adds

"See you boys later!" Nikki grins as the girls all head out. 

"Don't forget to let her give me her number!" Nathan shouts to the as the lift doors close.

"I feel really bad, call me sometime?" The girl hands Nathan a coaster with her number on it, before heading back towards the pub.

"Hey." Alisha smiles at her.

"Hi?" She asks suspiciously.

"I'm Alisha, this is Nikki and Kelly. We're friends of Nathan, sort of." 

"Oh. He got hit pretty hard, should you be checking on him?"

"He's immortal, he'll be fine." Nikki shrugs.

"So you, you know about the powers?" The girl asks.

"More than Nathan." Kelly tells her.

"We're going for a girls' night, want to join us? We can tell you anything you want to know about all this stuff; plus, manicures on me?" Alisha smiles. The girl laughs.

"Uhm, sure. Let me just grab my coat." The girl shrugs, gesturing them back to the pub.  
"My names Lily, by the way." She says, as the girls follow her in. 

"What you think the girls are up to?" Curtis asks, once again taking the spinning chair.

"I'm sure they've got it handled. Sevens." Seth shrugs.

"You think future Simon will be upset that he isn't going to be saving you?" Simon asks Nathan.

"Go fish. We could always blow up Jamie's car with no one in it. Give the man his feel goods. Aces." Nathan shrugs, and Seth hands over an ace.

"That's not a bad idea." Simon muses.

"Yeah dad'll be out of the boot by then." Nathan says absently.

"Your dad was in the boot?" Simon gaped.

"Only for most of the day." Nathan pauses, looking around the flat for a minute.  
"All these clocks and not one of them has the time." He scoffed.

"Simon you followed the masked guy after the car blows up, yeah? It's how I meet Nikki." Curtis says.

"So we blow up the car. Fives." Seth says easily.

"Anyone know how to make a bomb?" Nathan asks, and Seth and Simon raise their hands. The lift doors open and future Simon steps out, and looks around.

"Where are the girls?" He asks, concerned.

"We could ask you the same question! Also where were you?" Nathan accuses.

"He was out with me; younger me." Seth explains.

"Right, you two being all buddy buddy in the past, forgot about that." Nathan muses.  
"If you were going out for a pint, you could have at least brought dinner home!"

"We could order pizza." The younger Simon suggests.

"Are you telling me the girls are out there walking around in the past? After we just talked about this?" Future Simon huffs. 

"Relax, I'm sure they took your mean-mugging to heart you little psycho. But even you've gotta understand keeping us cooped up in here is just inhumane." Nathan explains. Future Simon takes a deep, irritated, breath.

"They're fine, yeah?" Curtis huffs. Future Simon sighed.

"The other flats are set up, and I actually have some time before my next task. I'd like to spend it in some peace and quiet." Future Simon tells them stiffly.

"The other flats are ready?" Nathan grins, throwing his cards on the table. Future Simon glares at him, walking over to put down three sets of keys.

"Work it out on your own, and bring your blankets." He tells them, gesturing to the lift. Nathan, Seth, and Curtis practically snatch up the keys, grabbing their blankets off the floor and rushing to the door, the younger Simon following patiently.

"So how're we planning to furnish our new digs?" Nathan asks, throwing an arm around his Simon once the lift doors closed behind the group of them.

"I've already spoken to myself about that." Seth shrugs.

"And?" Nathan asks, apprehensive

"Deliveries should start arriving in the next few days." He shrugs.

"Perfect. What about booze? We should celebrate!" Nathan exclaims, earning a concerned look from Simon.  
"Well not me obviously on account of the pregnancy, but you lot! Perfect opportunity to get smashed!"

"I don't think we should drink, but maybe we should celebrate. We've handled this time traveling pretty well so far." Simon smiles at him.

"Seth? Curtis?" Nathan asks grinning.

"Nah man. I'm looking forward to relaxing without all you just around the corner." Curtis almost laughs.

"I've got to agree. You two have fun, though." Seth tells them, and Nathan grins wickedly.

"Looks like you're going to have entertain me all by yourself, Barry. Whatever could the two of us do all alone in our new flat?" He nearly whispers. Simon's blush rises, and Curtis and Seth roll their eyes. The lift stops, and they each try their keys until Curtis' opens the door.

"We'll talk in the morning, yeah?" Curtis says, stretching as he made his way in his new flat. Nathan and Simon's flat was the floor above him, leaving Seth to the top floor.

Simon walked around the flat, thinking quietly to himself, but Nathan clearly had other ideas. He threw the blanket on the floor, stripping out of his shirt, and laying seductively on top of it.

"Welcome home, lover." Nathan said huskily, pulling a soft teasing smile from Simon's lips. Simon only hesitated for a second, never losing eye contact with Nathan as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt and walked back over to Nathan.

"What did you have in mind?" Simon asks, blush soft across his cheeks.

"How about we get those trousers off and I show you what a pretty mouth like mine can really do?"

Future Simon watched the clocks ticking down tensely. How many details up on this wall would be forever altered? Anything the others from the future might do could change everything. He tensed as the lift doors opened, the girls' laughter echoing through the flat.

"Where're the others?" Kelly asks. The older Simon turned to them, his reply dying on his lips.

"What is she doing here?" He asked, panic and anger and worry flaring up.

"Uhm, hi. I'm Lily. I've heard a lot about you." The girl said shyly. Simon gaped at Alisha.

"What? She's suppose to die tomorrow anyways." Alisha huffed.


	25. Chapter 25

"The others are in their new flats upstairs." Simon said, unable to think of a response to the insane situation.

"Cool. You guys go ahead." Alisha said, waving as the other three girls got back in the lift. Simon looked at Alisha seriously, running his fingers down the side of her face compassionately.

"What are you doing?" He asks her softly, but seriously. He almost sounded hurt.

"She doesn't deserve to die, right? And she gets it; she'll play her part tomorrow, she'll help us save Jamie, everybody wins." She smiles.  
"I know you want everything to stay the same, but we can make it even better! We're a team, yeah? Always have been. You just need to trust us." She tells him, adoring eyes pleading for him to let her help. 

Kelly knocks on the door the first stop the lift takes. Curtis answers, looking at the group in confusion.

"What's she doing here?" He asks, gesturing to Lily.

"Come on, were going to meet up and go over the plan." Nikki says, inviting him into the lift. Curtis shrugs, getting in and riding up another floor with them. They knock on the door when it stops, but there's no answer. Kelly huffs before knocking louder. 

"Can't a guy blow his boyfriend in peace anymore?" Nathan huffs shirtlessly as he opens the door.   
"Oh. Hi." Nathan smiles at the new girl.

"How far in the future did you say you're from?" Lily asks hesitantly.

"If you're wondering about my perfect physique, it'll be back to its former glory as soon as my baby's born, but I myself am off the market. Sorry ladies." Nathan grins.

"Whatever, just come on we gotta go over the plan." Curtis huffs.

"Barry's taking a minute to compose himself, we'll have to meet you there. You know how he is." Nathan smirks.

"Alright; we're headed upstairs." Nikki shrugs.

"Group powwow upstairs." Nathan tells Simon, sliding his hands over Simon's shirt.

"We should get going then." Simon replies quietly.

"Just five more minutes." Nathan smirks, leaning in for another heated kiss.

The younger group stood around in orange jumpsuits, equipped with gas masks and pesticides. Alisha shows Curtis the recording on her phone.

"Who is this guy?" Curtis asks. The rest of the group gathers around.

"I don't know, I think he was following me." Alisha told them.

"I think he might have sent us the note, to go to Nathan's grave." Simon says, muffled by the mask.

"Yeah; he kind of reminds me of that guy who rescued me." Nathan mused.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Kelly asks.

"Oh, yeah, I got surrounded by a whole group of those virtue virgins, yeah? I was just about to kick three types of shit out of em-girls included!-and this fella swoops in on his bmx all dramatic like and gives me a backie. Guy can pedal, I'll give him that." 

"And when were you going to tell us that?"

"I didn't think it was relevant!" Nathan defends. 

"Wait, a mysterious masked guy comes out of nowhere and rescues you. And you don't think that's relevant?" 

"Alright! I'm sorry, I forgot!" In his defense, Nathan had a lot to distract him.

"We have to find him." Simon says. 

"Look if he wants to dick around playing superhero, let him. Who's has time for that shit?"

"Right, he's just a chancer, just chancing it. What does he even know anyways?" Nathan laughed.

"He seems to know everything." Simon protests. There's a moment where the asbos seem to consider getting back to work.

"We're going out tonight, you coming?" Kelly asks Nathan.

"Oh cool yeah, I'll bring my little brother. We're going to be knee deep in Pussy!" Nathan grins.

"You ain't getting a sniff." Kelly huffs quietly.

"Oh wait! What's this? It's the phone number of a beautiful girl!" Nathan brags.

"Whatever." Kelly rolls her eyes.

"See Barry, I'm honestly-" Nathan leans forward, kissing the mask on Simon's face.  
"Irresistible."

The club music pounded through the building, as Nathan danced poorly next to Kelly.

"Thought she was with you." Kelly said, gesturing to the girl leading Jamie outside.

"Who? That girl? Nah, I can't even remember her name."

"You don't remember anyone's name." 

"There is some seriously weird shit going on with your eyes." Nathan told her, almost worried. He'd done a lot of drugs in his life, but he'd never seen something like that.

"I think the pills're kicking in. Why you acting like you're interested in girls like that? I know you're in love with Simon. Wait, no, I didn't mean to say that."

"Of course you didn't mean to say that! Because it isn't true. I can get loads of pretty girls! Why would I want the weird kid!" Nathan huffed.

"This pill is doing something really weird to my power." Kelly told him, starting to freak out a little.

"And more than that? Love?! Ha!" Nathan bit out.

"It's like I'm just saying whatever's in my head; like I sometimes I think I love you, but I know it would never work, because even if you weren't dreaming of him, you're still a pretty useless prick." Kelly rambled.

"I have feelings!" Nathan huffed, walking off. He made his way into the loo, standing in front of the mirror. He splashed some cool water in his face, breathing deeply as someone pushed their way in, locking themselves in a stall quickly.  
"You alright there mate?" Nathan laughed.

"Nathan? It-it's me."

"Barry? How you feeling?" 

"I feel really weird, everyone's looking at me." Barry said shyly.

"Yeah, that'd be the pills; Kelly said it was doing something weird to her powers."

"I didn't take any!"

"Yeah well, I think my brother might have spiked you; well I know he did." Nathan laughed a little.  
"When you say everyone's looking at you, you mean like, girls?" Nathan asked, not jealous.

"Everyone," Simon steps out of the stall hesitantly.  
"It's like it's reversed my power." Nathan gaped at Simon.

"Well, you're just a whole new level of beautiful today, huh?" Nathan licked his lips as he looked Simon over. 

"I-what?" Simon asks, completely caught off guard.

"Yeah, just look at you." Nathan reaches out to touch him, but Simon recoiled.

"Its-my power, Nathan stop." Simon panicked.

"Fine, fine, look don't touch." Nathan said, holding his hands up innocently, but his eyes still wandered. This wasn't right, he wasn't suppose to look at Simon like this, not so obviously at least.  
"Should probably leave the loo at some point anyways, yeah?" Nathan laughed nervously, actively willing himself to look away, and head out.

"Nathan don't get killed!" Simon yelled after him.  
"Nathan!"  
Nathan wandered around, slipping out the doors for a quick smoke. He had to cool off, stop thinking about Simon. Wait, was that Jamie's car? That's a lot of smoke. Reversed powers; that ice chick! Nathan was rushing towards the car before he could think any further. Someone tackled him to the ground as the car exploded.

"Jamie!" Nathan yelled, pushing the bloke off him as he stumbled to the car.   
"No, no, Jamie!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suspense?


	26. Chapter 26

"I should've... I should've been there sooner, I didn't think..." Nathan almost sobbed, letting Kelly drag him into the community center.

"Nathan!" Lily yelled to them as soon as they walked through the doors. Jamie lay unconscious on the floor in front of her.

"Jamie!" Nathan yelled, pushing past Kelly and almost running to his brother's side.  
"What happened? His car-" Nathan cut himself off, shaking as he kneeled next to Jamie.

"He's alive, he's fine." Lily assured him.  
"Some guy brought us here."

"What guy?" Kelly asked.

"Wha-what?" Jamie groaned, sitting up slowly.

"Oh thank Christ." Nathan huffed out, bringing Jamie into a rough hug.  
"I thought you were dead you stupid bastard! Your car blew up, I thought you two were in it." Nathan told him.

"My car blew up?" Jamie frowned.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Kelly asked, sitting down with them.

"Your friend came up to us; I thought he was mad about spiking his drink; he hit me." Jamie explained, still dizzy.

"You talking about Simon?" Kelly asked.

"Couldn't be him, he was in the loo with me." Nathan said softly.

"What were you and Simon doing in the loo?" Kelly almost accuses. Nathan's ears turn a little pink, but he otherwise ignores it.

'Must have been the other one.' Nathan thinks offhandedly.

"What you mean the other one?" Kelly asks.

"Oh, well there might be some duplicates of us running around the neighborhood. Guess they came back from the future." Nathan shrugs.

"What is going on?" Jamie asked. Lily placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"And you didn't think to tell us that? What the hell Nathan." Kelly huffed.

"They told me not to tell anyone! Guess they're in cahoots with that masked fella." Nathan shrugs.

"Ok, ok girls, can my brother and I talk this through?" Jamie huffs.

"We'll finish this later." Kelly tells Nathan before standing to leave.

"Call me later, ok?" Lily tells Jamie softly.

"Sure thing." He smiles back. The girls leave, and Nathan sighs deeply.

"So I'm sure you've got a few questions." Nathan almost laughed.

"Yeah, I can think of a few." Jamie grumbled.

"So a while back, there was this storm. A bunch of us got super powers. I'm immortal! Big reveal." Nathan tells him.

"Seriously?" Jamie asks, and Nathan just nods.

"Kelly can read minds, Curtis travels back in time, Barry turns invisible, Alisha-well let's not go there. But your girl has ice powers." Nathan shrugs.

"This is wild." Jamie huffs.

"Yeah. I was hoping to tell you in a much cooler way." 

"So you and your mates traveled back in time?" He asks, trying to keep an open mind.

"We will, I think. Future versions of us running around, saving us, I guess." Nathan shrugged. The two were quiet for a long time.

"I think I better head home soon. My mum doesn't even know I'm out this way." Jamie shrugs.

"What? No, come on, so you almost died! But you didn't! We can make this work!" Nathan protested.  
"I've always wanted a brother." Nathan shrugs.

"You can always visit me." Jamie tells him, elbowing him a little.  
"Mum's usually at the hospital, so we can just, hang around the house." Jamie tells him.

"Ooh, is your mum sick?" Nathan asks, trying to be supportive.

"No, she's a doctor. She works a lot." Jamie frowns.

"You're Mom’s a doctor?" Nathan gaped.

"Yeah, why?"

"You think you can tell her about the storm? Prepare her for a weird kind of patient?" Nathan asks, gears turning.

"You want me to tell my mum that you're immortal and that I would have gotten blown up if it weren't for your friends traveling back in time?" Jamie asks incredulously.

"You can leave out the almost blown up bit if you like, but one of those friends is a severely pregnant man." Nathan tells him. Jamie laughs, not knowing what else to do.

"I can try man. She's not usually one to listen though." Jamie grimaces 

"Well there's no rush. Wouldn't know how to tell him I found a doctor for him anyways. Don't exactly have his phone number."

"Well call me when you figure it out; we'll meet up there, yeah?"

"How're you getting home?" Nathan asked, visions of Jamie's car in flames still fresh in his mind.

"You wanna help me ask dad for a lift?" Jamie asks, and Nathan groans.

"Fine."

"Cheers!" Lily grinned. She met back up with the eight from the future afterwards, finding them mid-celebration. 

"To Jamie!" Nathan yelled, raising his glass of Apple juice. Everyone raised their beers in response. 

"We did it." Simon grinned, taking Nathan close the second he was able.

"You are my favorite superhero." Nathan tells him seductively. 

"And Simon punches him! Dead ass knocked out cold. I didn't have to do anything except carry the poor guy." Curtis grins.

"You healed the future Simon, that alone is something." Nikki praises.

"You were brilliant, yeah?" Kelly tells Lily, smiling genuinely.

"It was so nerve wracking meeting you all like nothing happened!" She laughs.

"Lighten up, we won." Alisha tells her Simon, cuddling close to him.

"I know. I'm just worried about what this will affect." He sighed.

"Hey. Live in the moment, right here, with me." Alisha leans in, and her Simon smiles into the kiss.


	27. Chapter 27

"So you want to tell me more about our future selves?" Kelly asked Nathan as they picked at the trash heap.

"Not much to tell, I've run into future me and Simon twice now, and they mentioned having to get back to the others." Nathan shrugged.  
"Oh, and they said something about mooching off the guy in the mask!" Nathan added. The two were quiet for a minute, until Nathan opened an abandoned fridge.  
"Aw, nice!" He exclaimed as he grabbed a single beer out. He offers a swig to Kelly, who shrugs and takes a sip.  
"So what're you doing later?" Nathan asks conversationally.

"Gonna get my tattoo touched up." Kelly shrugged.  
"Wanna come with?" She teased.

"Yeah sure, who doesn't love watching someone get poked."

"Hey Simon, you should come too." Kelly called, earning some mixed scowl from Nathan.

"Uhm, sure." Simon said awkwardly.

"Have you seen any more of that guy, in the mask?" Alisha asks Simon, standing over to the side with him.

"Not since last week." Simon shrugs, holding the plastic legs awkwardly.

"Why do you think he lead us to that girl's flat?"

"Maybe he wanted us to know that he knows that we're on to him. Or there could be another, totally different explanation."

"You're suppose to know about this stuff." Alisha huffed.

"Why're you interested in him?"

"Because I just am, alright?"

"I've seen some weird shit over the past few weeks, but this, this goes against the very laws of nature." 

"It's very wrong." Simon agreed, him and Nathan both gaping at the hung picture of the tattooed cock.

"Hey Simon, you should get one." Kelly grinned.

"I have a phobia of needles." Simon replied uneasily.

"So who's cock is this?" Nathan asked, almost accusingly.

"That's mine." The tattoo artist, Vince, told him.

"Really?" Nathan squeaked.  
"I'm not being funny, but why would you do something like that?"

"It expresses how I felt about my girlfriend when she left me." He explained earnestly.

"You couldn't just get drunk and sleep with a prostitute?" Nathan jests.

"Each one of these means something to me my friend." Vince scoffed.  
"When I ink my skin, I feel it."

"Hey man whatever gets you off." Nathan grimaced.  
"Hey Kelly, how about this one? Now would I be even more irresistible if I had this, or does it look a bit gay to you?" Nathan asked loudly. Kelly rolled her eyes, smiling.  
"Ooh," Nathan hissed, seeing the tattoo on Vince's neck.  
"I mean it would look gay on me, just cause I have a beautiful face, but you get away with it, with your face! I'm not saying your ugly," Nathan floundered for a moment.  
"I mean you've looked in the mirror! No offense, man." Nathan concludes with a shrug. Vince takes a deep breath. Looking around the room.

"None taken." He says, and Nathan feels an odd pinch in his shoulder.

"So how about we go for a drink?" Nathan asks, as the three leave the tattoo parlor.

"Where do you wanna go?" Kelly asks.

"Who's talking to you? I'm talking to him. This is more of a boys night; we're talking some quality man time." Nathan tells her, flexing a little.  
"Beer, football, maybe some wrestling?" Nathan asks Simon.

"Yeah, just don't go dicking around." Kelly huffs. She was happy Nathan was making some effort with his crush, but it could also easily be a recipe for disaster.  
"Later." She shrugged.

Alisha awoke to her Simon making breakfast in the kitchen.  
"Hey." She says sleepily.

"Morning, I made omelettes." He smiles softly at her.

"Lucky me." She smiles back.

"We should talk about-about the other you." Simon tells her, laying the breakfast out on the table.

"She's going to be looking for you." Alisha says softly. She knew they'd get to this point, but she wasn't sure what to expect.

"I'm suppose to bring her here." He says softly, but he's not meeting her eyes.

"So what are you saying?" Alisha asks, preparing for the worst.

"I'm not saying anything, I'm asking; Alisha," Simon sighs.  
"I prepared to do everything I was suppose to do exactly when I was suppose to do it. But now, now I don't know what to do. You said we're a team, right? So, help me understand; help me prepare for this new timeline." Simon asks her honestly. 

"I think you should show up early. Stop her before she falls. Talk to her if you have to. I know you, Simon, I know you'll say the right thing." She says seriously. Simon nods, a weight lifted.

"I love you." He tells her, and she lights up.

"I love you too. Now go be a hero."

Simon waited for the younger Alisha to walk by. She was clearly looking for trouble, looking for him. He jumped down, landing a small ways ahead of her.

"It's you." She breathed out. She took a step towards him, and he took a step back.  
"Who are you? Why're you following us?" She asks.

"You need to be more careful." The man in the mask tells her, hoping she didn't recognize his voice.

"You can't just keep leaping from buildings, rescuing people without letting us thank you." She huffs out, and Simon is torn. In his timeline she'd find out. She should know in this timeline too, even if things went differently.

"You can't tell anyone." He told her, heart racing uncomfortably.  
"I'm from the future." 

"The future; are you serious?" She asks, unsure.

"Promise me you won't tell the others." He's speaking softly, but still keeping his distance.

"Ok, yeah. I promise, ok?" She replies, just as gently. Simon hesitates, before pulling down his hood, and taking off his mask.

"Simon?" She gapes.  
"How does this work; there are two of you." She asks, uncertain. The future Simon makes an expression somewhere between irony and grimacing.

"There's the Simon you know, and there's the future Simon; me."

"You're so different." She almost laughs, but her eyes are a little flirtatious.

"A lot happens between now and then." He says, sadly.   
"No matter what happens, you can never tell Simon I'm him. You can't tell any of them." Simon tells her seriously, before replacing his mask and hood. Alisha nods, and Simon takes a moment before jumping over the rail.

Simon stood awkwardly at the top of the stairs, while Nathan pops open a beer and got comfortable in his bed area.

"I thought we were going to a bar, to watch wrestling?" Simon asked nervously.

"Nah, who wants to go to a bar, we've got everything we need right here! Come on, make yourself comfortable, take off your jacket, relax." Nathan smiles softly, heart racing as he watches Simon do just that. Simon folds his jacket, setting it down before sitting on the ledge. Nathan was quick to move closer to him.  
"So this is really cool, huh?" Nathan asks, eyes soft, as the nerves and butterflies fire up.   
"Couple of good looking young fellas, a few beers, that's good times." Nathan couldn't help but glance at Simon's lips. God they were so close.  
"Hey why don't I put some music on?" Nathan asked, winging this seduction perfectly. Nathan reaches across Simon's lap, reveling in his warmth, so much as to moan a little, and try to pass it off as nothing. He scrolls through his music before gasping at the perfect song. Slow and romantic, all about loving a friend.   
"Oh yeah." Nathan smiles as the music plays through the speakers. Simon almost does a spit take at the choice, as Nathan sways seductively behind him. Nathan lays down, looking up at Simon with wide and wonder filled eyes.  
"I want to know everything there is to know about you."

"Like what?" Simon asked, very uneasy.

"Anything!" Nathan encourages.

"Well, I, Uh, I just bought the battle star galactica dvd box set."

"Tell me about your first sexual experience." Nathan asks, getting close and intimate, unable to stop himself from glancing at those perfect lips.  
"Do you want to hear about mine? It was a family camping holiday and one of my moms friends came with us, and one night I felt her hand sliding into my sleeping bag like a warm friendly snake." Nathan licks his lips as he dares to put his hand on Simon's thigh, rubbing softly.   
"And then she grabs my cock and starts wanking me off." Nathan tells him, hand straying further up, teasing dangerously. He pressed his luck moving up a bit further, when Simon seemed to have regained his voice.

"Your hand's on my leg," 

"Shh," Nathan said softly, placing a finger gently on Simon's lips. There was a brief moment, before Nathan was leaning in, kissing Simon, softly at first, but he couldn't help it, he leaned in again, hoping to deepen the kiss, before Simon jumped to his feet.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked, bordering on terrified. It wasn't real, he was playing a trick, he was trying to hurt him, why would he do that? 

"You don't know how much I've always wanted to do that." Nathan moaned out  
"Oh, feel my heart, it's racing! It's ok," Nathan said, seeing the confusion, the distrust in Simon.  
"It's ok, I'll be gentle, alright why don't we get your trousers off-" Nathan said, licking his lips as he knelt in front of Simon. But Simon was pushing him away, and rushing down the stairs.  
"Simon! Simon don't go, we don't have to go all the way, we can just cuddle; and when you're ready we can do some dry humping!" Nathan yelled after him.  
"Call me!" He added when Simon didn't so much as turn around. Nathan fell back against his bed, running his fingers over his lips lightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weird to think this is this first time this fic goes over the tattoo incident


	28. Chapter 28

"Nathan? What's up?" Jamie asked, stepping outside the party to answer his phone.

"I just had to tell someone; I'm in love." Nathan sighed.

"You? What's her name?" Jamie asked, glad for the bonding.

"His name, is Simon. You remember, the short one with the intense eyes." Nathan explained, lounging on his bed after the third watch of Jerry McGuire.

"Are you taking the piss?" Jamie laughed.

"No, man. I know I'm wizard with the ladies, but there's just something about him. I think he's the one." Nathan smiles softly. 

"Hey man, to each their own." Jamie laughed.  
"You two together?"

"Oh, I don't know, he's playing hard to get, but I know we've got something really magical." 

"Yeah well when you work it out, you can bring him over; we'll have a double date." Jamie promises.

"Oh, you and Lily still going strong?" Nathan asks, happy for all the love in the air.

"Yeah, she came out to visit. No drugs though, we learned our lesson there; just a bit of pot." Jamie tells him, and Nathan's nodding along.

"Well good fer you. Who'd of thought the two of us, each getting tied down so readily?" He laughs.

"Yeah, it's right weird." Jamie smiles back.  
"I gotta go, but it's good hearing from you. Good luck with Simon, yeah?"

"Yeah, thanks brother." Nathan says, glad to have him to confide in.

"He kissed me." Simon tells Kelly as the two pick up litter the next morning.

"Nathan kissed ya?" Kelly huffed. She knew she should have done more, Nathan was going to push way too fast.

"He put his tongue in my mouth." Simon elaborated  
"He tried to take my trousers off." Simon was mortified explaining it all, but he was so grateful that Kelly would listen.

"Are you taking a piss?" Kelly asked, hoping Nathan didn't try to take things that fast. Even Nathan should know better than that.

"He said he wanted to do some dry humping." Simon added.

"Well what did you do?" Kelly asked, trying to be supportive.

"I left! Very quickly." Simon tells her.

"He's such a wanker. Look, I'll talk to him." Kelly promised. 

"If you open your heart, I know we could have something really beautiful. Yours, forever, Nathan." Nathan read aloud as he wrote, eyes soft and alight.

"What were you thinking dicking around with Simon?" Kelly huffed, interrupting Nathan's love struck thoughts.

"Who's dicking around?" Nathan asks back.

"You put your tongue in his mouth!" She huffed.

"Ok, alright! So I got a little bit fresh with him! I was staring into those big, beautiful eyes, he's like a, like a handsome shark! I couldn't help myself. I love him." Nathan sighs.

"Great to hear you finally admit it!" She huffs.

"Well I can't pretend any longer, I won't."  
'I've never felt this way about anyone; he completes me.'

"Uh, that's from Jerry McGuire." 

"Yeah, I know I watched it four times last night. It's like he's Tom, and I'm Rene." Nathan grinned.  
"Maybe he's what's been missing from my life." Nathan continues, smiling softly. Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Keep trying to push him so fast you'll never get anywhere." She huffs, before leaving Nathan on the roof.

Simon sat at the picnic table, eating his lunch quietly.

"Hi. Got you a drink." Alisha smiles.  
"It's just a drink." She says nervously. 

"Uhm, thank you." Simon tried to smile. 

"Do you ever think about the future? Do you think about what's going to happen to us?" She asks.

"All the time. We need to be ready." He says, and Alisha can see the masked man when she looks at him now.

"What for?"

"One day someone's going to find out about us, and everything will change."

"I know you've looked out for us. Killing the probation worker; the second one." She tried to go for something light hearted, but it was a tough subject.  
"I've never thanked you. I wanted you to know: thanks." She shrugs. Simon considers her for a moment.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"I can be nice; sometimes." Alisha felt the weight of the question hit her in full.  
"Look, if I've ever been a bitch to you, I'm sorry."

"I've never thought you were a bitch." Simon reassures her.  
"Sometimes, I think it's difficult for beautiful girls; people don't see past their looks." 

"I should go." Alisha says, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"I wonder what our younger selves are up to." Nathan says dreamily as he and his Simon lay naked in their flat.

"I think you got the tattoo about now." Simon replies, just as softly. He was gently running his hands across Nathan's back.

"Mh, what a magical chapter in our long and romantic history." Nathan smiled, burying himself further into Simon's chest. Simon laughs gently.

"We should cook a proper meal together soon. Buy some candles." Simon muses after a comfortable silence. Nathan gasps lightly, adjusting himself to look Simon in the eye.

"Are you asking me on a proper date?" Nathan grins, eyes shining.

"Seems about time I have a candle lit dinner with my boyfriend." Simon smiles back, and Nathan's heart flutters. They'd been together comfortably for a while now, but this was the first time Simon had used that word for them properly.

"I'd love to." Nathan managed to reply. Looking up at Simon adoringly from beneath long lashes.

It was the end of the day, and the asbos were getting ready in the locker room, all eager to end the day. Simon folded his jacket neatly, adjusting his collar before noticing Nathan standing far too close to him. 

"What's this?" Simon asks awkwardly, at the red envelope Nathan was holding out to him.

"Read it; we'll take things slowly, and when you're ready to develop the physical side of our relationship, you just let me know, no pressure." Nathan was practically caging Simon in, leaning into his space.

"Thanks." Simon manages to croak out, briefly wondering if he had been spiked again, with the strange attention he had been getting.

"It's just so hard, when you're so cute, and I'm so horny," Nathan starts, caressing Simon's cheek in a way that made him gasp a little.

"Right." Simon squeaks, and Nathan takes a breath, before giving Simon some space. Simon gaped as he watched Nathan walk away. Did... did that tattoo have his name on it?

"Did you know he got a tattoo done with your name on it?" Kelly asks, and Simon was almost freaking out. He shook his head, still feeling like he had dropped into some other reality. 

"No; I-I thought yesterday would just blow over." He stuttered out. The walk home was tense for Simon. He ran his fingers over the envelope in his pocket, grounding himself to the reality of it. Once he was safely in his bedroom, he loosened the top button on his shirt, sitting on his bed before opening it. For someone as crass as Nathan always is, he wrote a beautiful love letter. He wrote about Simon's firey intensity, and beautiful lips; how Nathan dreamed of being held, and kissed by Simon. He wrote how Simon was like a strong knight in shining armor; How perfectly they could fit together. Aside from one strange line about wanting Simon to impregnate him, it was actually very romantic. Simon blushes, breath heavy. It couldn't be real. It was too much; it didn't make sense. But the way Nathan had looked at him last night, the way Nathan licked his lips as he tried to undo Simon's belt. Simon took in a shakey breath. Nathan really was amazing and beautiful, and Simon wanted so badly for it to be real; but, he knew better than that.


	29. Chapter 29

Simon walked into the locker rooms the next morning, stopping in embarrassment as he walked in on Kelly, but that tattoo... 

"I don't even remember having that done." Kelly says calmly, as she and Nathan look at their tattoos in the mirror.

"Yeah, neither do I! I don't regret it though, not one little bit." Nathan told Simon, eyes all honest heat and love. Simon has to roll his eyes. It was so obvious.

"I think the tattoos are controlling you; that tattoo guy must have done them." Simon explained.

"Uh, Vince wouldn't do that, he loves me." Kelly huffs.

"That's your tattoo talking."

"Aw, cute and clever." Nathan but his lip as he reached for Simon. Simon batted his hand away.

"And that's yours." Simon leads the way outside, but the others just lounge at the table.  
"We need to get him to remove the tattoos." Simon tells them.

"I really don't think he did it." Kelly scoffs.

"Nah, I gotta find Alisha, we got in a big fight." Curtis says dismissively.

"Hey man, love hurts. Chews you up and spits you out." Nathan pouts.

"Hey." Kelly says, gesturing to the masked man on the roof top.

"It's him!" Nathan gaped.  
"Hey you! Can you tell your pregnant friend I found a doctor for him?" Nathan calls up, getting several weird looks from the group. The man reaches to his side, and Nathan springs up.  
"He's got a gun!" Nathan yells, shielding Simon. The man tosses down a small package, before flipping away. Simon pushes past Nathan to see what it is, but Nathan's touching him the whole time, and taking full advantage of the view as Simon bends to pick it up.

"It's peanuts; dry roasted."

"I still think we should have done oysters, I hear they're a natural aphrodisiac." Nathan whispers to Simon seductively.

"You wouldn't like oysters." Simon tells him, a small smile on his face. The two moved around each other in their small kitchen, cooking their romantic meal. Nathan jumped when a loud knock came from the lift doors.

"I should probably get that." Nathan sighs, kissing the back of Simon's neck softly. The loud knock came again.  
"Sounds urgent." Nathan opened the door, future Simon brushing past him.  
"Oh, it's you." Nathan huffs, all the more upset at the intrusion.

"I just came from giving peanuts to the group. Do you want to tell me why your younger self asked me to tell you he found a doctor for you? How does he even know about you?" Future Simon seethed.

"We may have run into him once or twice." Nathan half explained.

"What do you mean he found a doctor?" Simon asks, apron tied on him, and wooden spoon in his hand. Future Nathan just shakes his head, walking back into the lift. What else could he say? As the lift doors closed behind him, Nathan whistled impressively.

"What a twat." Nathan huffed. Maybe it should have insulted the younger Simon, but honestly it was just so nice to know Nathan preferred him as he was. 

"I suppose we should visit your younger self, once his tattoo is dealt with." 

"You want some? Dry roasted!" Simon threatened.

"Oh, so butch," Nathan almost swooned. 

"Drop the nuts!"

"Drop the gun!"

When the tattoo faded, Nathan stood breathless. He was in love. Kelly was right, he was in love with Simon. And Simon had turned him down. He felt a hollow ache in his chest. He blew it.

Kelly and Nathan lay in the community center, smoking in a cluttered silence.

"So that was an unexpected turn of events." Nathan almost laughed.

"Figured you knew better than to push him like that." Kelly replies quietly. Nathan sighs. 

"I think I actually nailed the seduction, couldn't have done it better myself."

"Maybe Simon's just not gay." Kelly shrugged.

"No, there's a future out there where he and I are in love, I just got to find it." Nathan huffed. 

"Are we interrupting?" The older Simon asked, him and the older Nathan watching from the door way. Kelly took a double take.

"Future people!" Nathan said grandly, standing and beckoning them over.

"We heard you found a doctor." Simon explains, walking to the bottom of the stairs, but not coming up.

"Is that your future self?" Kelly scoffed.

"It's ok, he's pregnant, not fat." Nathan explained easily.  
"And you'll never believe the coincidence! My brother Jamie? His mom is a doctor! I just gotta give him a call, then we can all take a little road trip out to see her!" Nathan grinned.

"Jamie's mom is a doctor?" The older Nathan huffed.  
"What're the odds?"

"Maybe some things do happen for a reason." Simon smiles warmly to his boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, so close to the end. Well not the end, but the last update for a while lol. Hope you guys enjoy, and thanks so much for reading this far


	30. Chapter 30

"So where'd you get the car?" The younger Nathan asks, sitting shot gun to Kelly, with the older Simon and Nathan in the back.

"It's my mum's; she was pretty nice about it actually." Kelly smiles, enjoying the drive.

"So tell me, how did you get so lucky?" Nathan asks, turning awkwardly to look at his future self.

"Persistence!" Nathan tells him, grinning.  
"If there's one thing I know about Barry, it's that he can be an emotional roller coaster disguised as a clueless dolt! You know how many times I had to seduce him in a woman's body before he'd even look at me in my own?" Nathan huffed, and Simon frowned.

"You were always in a woman's body when you'd seduce me." Simon protests.

"I'm sorry, mind explaining that bit?" The younger Nathan asked.

"I don't think we should." Simon said nervously.

"Come on, Barry, you sound like that prick in the mask." The older Nathan coaxed.  
"I bought some shapeshifting a while back; haven't used it for much except for seducing Barry to be honest." He shrugged.

"I thought you and Alisha were doing make overs?" Simon asks, very uncomfortable.

"Yeah, she helped set us up. Once her whole thing... happened." Nathan ended awkwardly. 

"You gonna speak so cryptically the whole drive?" Kelly huffs, going to light up a cigarette.

"Please don't smoke in the car." Simon tells her firmly.

"Yeah, that's my future baby you're endangering, pull over for your smoke fer gods sake." The young Nathan huffs. Kelly rolls her eyes, but pulls over to a mostly empty parking lot, and steps out, the younger Nathan on her heels.

"So what do you think?" Nathan asks Kelly once they got out.

"I think Alisha setting you two up is the most unbelievable thing about it." She huffs.

"Do you really think you had to be a woman to seduce me?" The older Simon asked his Nathan, the two alone in the back seat.

"Clearly." Nathan shrugs, but Simon's caressing Nathan's jaw lightly, and he's leaning into the touch.

"I know I had a hard time believing you could really want me," Simon starts, looking at his boyfriend seriously.  
"But I've always thought you were beautiful just as you are." He tells Nathan honestly. Nathan's breath catches, and a slight blush rises.

"Would that have been enough?" Nathan asks softly.

"I don't know. You really confused me the first time you asked me out; I'm sorry I didn't believe you." 

"I'm not asking for apologies, Barry, but I don't want to tell my younger self he's got a decent chance at something like what we've got based on his body alone." Nathan shrugs.

"You remember the first time we slept together?" Simon asks quietly.

"The first, second, third," Nathan stops to kiss Simon lightly.  
"And fourth, all in one night. How could I forget?" He grins mischievously.

"I was scared you would do something you'd regret, or end up in danger with someone who wouldn't understand." Simon let out a shakey breath.  
"It was hard not to believe it was what you really wanted. But, your, persistence." Simon smiles, squeezing Nathan's hand lightly.  
"You made me believe you wanted to do that with me. That you trusted me with that, wanted me. It was hard enough to believe someone as beautiful as you could want me, but to believe someone as wonderful as you could love me, seemed impossible."

"Are you saying if I didn't have my shapeshifting, you'd still be the bloke I slept with that night?" Nathan asked, a teasing, nervous smile on his lips.

"If I believed it was what you truly wanted, yes." Simon brushes his thumb over Nathan's cheek, and Nathan leaned in to kiss him.

"That still might be the hottest thing I've ever seen in my life." The younger Nathan grinned as he and Kelly got back in the car.

"Well I hope you get to experience it with your own Simon some day." Nathan smiled, cuddling into his blushing Simon more for the rest of the drive.

"Where're Nathan and Kelly?" Simon asks Alisha and Curtis, the three of them in their jump suits, out at the trash heap again.

"Something about seeing his brother? I wasn't really listening." Alisha shrugs.

"He's probably too embarrassed to show up." Curtis grinned.

"You think Nathan's capable of embarrassment?" Alisha asked.

"Well he's not here, is he? Kelly's probably off comforting him." Curtis snickered.

"Yeah, 'comforting' I think we all know where those two are headed." She shakes her head.

"You think they're trying to get together?" Simon asked, trying not to sound upset. This was just how things happened. Alisha shrugged, and Curtis scoffed.

"Yeah right, hows that ever gonna work? I'm more curious about how that guy in the mask knew the tattoo prick was allergic to peanuts." Curtis asks, jabbing a large piece of trash with his poker.

"I told you, he seems to know everything. We need to find out who he is."

"Can't we just let him do his thing? I mean seriously, who cares?" Alisha says nervously. 

Nathan grins at his brother, getting out of the car, and meeting him for a bro hug.  
"Nathan! Glad you could make it. Is that Simon in the car?" Jamie asks.

"Future Simon, I'm afraid. Turns out I had a super powered tattoo that made me fall in love with my Simon. So he'll probably have an even harder time believing me when I start flirting with him for real." Nathan shrugs.

"Ah you'll figure out how to get through to him. He's a nerdy type, right? Buy him some little action figure or something, he'll go nuts." Jamie suggests, patting Nathan's back supportively.  
"Mums inside. She's coming around to Lily's ice powers, but she's pretty skeptical about all this still." Jamie shrugs as the others get out the car.  
"Well come on then." He tells them, leading the way into his house.  
"Mom, this is my brother Nathan, his friend Kelly, his pregnant future self and his future self's boyfriend, also from the future." Jamie summed up. His mom looked tired of this shit already.

"I'm doctor Larson." She smiles tightly.  
"Why don't you all make yourselves at home while I take a look at the patient in the back room?" She says more than asks, gesturing towards the older Nathan immediately. He followed her through the doors in the back of the room into a home office area.  
"So you're Mike's other son, huh?" She asks as she grabbed a stethoscope and her medical bag from the desk.

"Yeah, useless twat." Nathan replied indifferently. She huffed out a laugh.

"That he is. Take a deep breath?" She asks, placing the stethoscope on his back.  
"And are you a smoker?"

"Religiously, back before I was knocked up." Nathan shrugs. She makes a small noise of acknowledgement, before scribbling in her notebook.

Simon sat awkwardly on the couch between past-Kelly and past-Nathan.

"So you know that masked guy then?" Kelly asks him after a second.

"Y-yes." Simon replies awkwardly. He was thankful for the doctor's visit, and thankful for the ride here, but he was still pretty uncertain about how much to tell them.

"He from the future too?" Kelly continues.

"Well, yes. Not my future; just, a future." Simon half dodges.

"Nathan, come look at this." Jamie has his laptop set up, and is waving Nathan over.

"Comic con?" Nathan laughs.

"Yeah, think about it, right? You get tickets for you and him, get all dressed up in some nerdy little fantasy?" Jamie explains, scrolling through the websites pictures.

"Hey, yeah. I just gotta find a sexy character from that battle star galactica crap he watches," Nathan mused, watching the screen intently. Simon cringed a little. If anything, Nathan should cosplay as seven of nine. Nathan would actually make a really hot Seven of nine; that silver skin-tight outfit, his hair pinned back, showing off his perfect bone structure...

"Look fer something called seven of nine!" Kelly yells out, startling Simon.  
"What. Not my fault you're thinking so loudly." Kelly shrugs, and Simon's dying in his blush.

"I'd like to get you in for an appointment at the hospital for your ultra-sound; how far along did you say you were?"

"Two or three months. We started having the premaritals about two years from now if that helps." He smiles innocently at her. She looks even more done with this shit.

"Well, as far as I can tell with the limited equipment I have here, I'd say you've started your third trimester. Doesn't exactly fit into that timeline, but my sons girlfriend can flash-freeze a whole turkey by hand, and time travel exists, so it's hard to really expect anything anymore." She huffs, clearly taking this a lot better than most people would. 

"Yeah, about that hospital visit; I can't exactly be put in the system for this." Nathan explains.

"Don't worry, any record of you will be in my personal files only; I wouldn't risk anyone finding them. Can you imagine how insane this will look on paper? They'd probably start drug testing me." She shakes her head.  
"You and your friends can spend the night here, and you can come to the hospital with me tomorrow morning." She instructs him, before gesturing to the door. Nathan manages to thank her, before walking into the living room, where his boyfriend had one of the brightest blushes he's ever seen.

"Did I miss something classic?" He asked, grinning widely.

"Kelly's probing your boyfriends brain for slutty cosplay ideas." The younger Nathan yelled out, attention still on the laptop screen.

"Well don't leave me in the dark, what're we dressing as?" He asks, shuffling through the room to look over his younger self's shoulder.

"It's a toss up between this seven of nine chick, slutty slave star wars girl, or supergirl." The younger Nathan explains easily. 

"Oh, that's easy, go Star Wars girl; our lithe body in that skimpy little piece? Fucking priceless." The older Nathan grins, winking at the pleading look his boyfriend managed to send him.

"Jamie's mom won't let us sleep in the same room." The older Nathan tells his Simon quietly as the group got ready to crash for the night.   
"She thinks we'll start having bed-breakingly, neighborhood waking, hot frantic sex all night. So we'll have to be quiet when I slip into your room later." Nathan teased.

"Good night, Nathan." Simon laughs, kissing him softly.

Nathan awoke in the middle of the night to relieve himself, before heading back. He stopped outside his door, the television lights from down the hall gaining his attention. He stretched, shirt rising over his pregnant belly as he moves towards the couch. He huffs, motioning for Jamie to scooch over.

"Couldn't sleep?" Jamie asks, his brothers on either side of him.

"Little bastard keeps ninja kicking my bladder." The older Nathan huffed. The three were quiet, watching the television lazily.

"You lot saved me that night, yeah?" Jamie asks after a minute.

"Yeah." The older Nathan confirms.

"Thanks for that." Jamie tells him.

"Couldn't let you go out like that again." Nathan shrugs.

"So, in your future I'm dead?" Jamie asks, trying not to seem freaked out.

"Yup. I'm naming my kid after you, by the way." Nathan says, as though it were no big deal.

"Cool." Jamie replies, equally trying to down play what it meant to him. 

"Hey," the younger Nathan started after a minute.  
"On the drive up here, you said you bought your shapeshifting? So do you actually have laser eyes too?"


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, finally back to when the fic begins.

"It doesn't feel right just leaving them like that." Nathan huffed, sulking into the passengers seat.

"You heard them. We've messed up the timeline enough just by driving them here." Kelly shrugged.  
"Besides, Jamie said he'd drive em back for us." The ride was quiet for a while, before Kelly sighs.  
"Sorry the comic con thing didn't work out."

"I know! Who knew these little nerd fests were so expensive?" Nathan huffed.

"Well, Halloween is just around the corner." Kelly shrugs.

"You gonna help me put the costume together?" Nathan asks, a conspiring tone to his voice. Kelly laughs.

"Sure, mate."

"you really shouldn't be traveling like this." Dr Larson frowns.

"Well we got some time before anything drastic happens with the timeline, right Barry?" Nathan shrugs.

"Can you figure out a due date?" Simon asks nervously.

"Best I can say is soon. If this were a normal pregnancy, at this point I'd say maybe a month. But at the rate this pregnancy has been developing, it could be weeks, maybe days."

"So what do we do?" Simon asked nervously, reaching for Nathan's hand again.

"Well, you said you, shapeshifted, into a woman when you got pregnant." The doctor says, frowning slightly.  
"Our best bet would be if you could shapeshift into one again for the birth."

"Well clearly, I don't think my cock could handle labor." Nathan teased, gesturing below his pregnant belly.

"What about C-section?" Simon asks seriously.

"It's not ideal here; for one, I'd need a team with me for the procedure, and for two, without an accurate due date, we'd be taking the risk of preforming it too soon." She sighed.  
"But if you can shapeshift for this, I can bring you in off the books, and tell the team you're my son's half sister." She explains.

"Yeah, alright." Nathan laughs at the idea of being Jamie's sister.

"Until then, I think you should continue to stay at my house. Jamie can help get you settled and drive you in when the time comes." She offers, throwing her stethoscope around her neck.  
"Now, would you like to know the sex of the baby?" She smiles, and Simon panics a little.

"No." Simon says, and Nathan gives him an unreadable expression.

"Barry, baby, we have to know, right?" Nathan asks, genuinely confused.

"I-" Simon starts, but isn't sure how to voice his concerns, or if he even should. Instead he sighs shakily, before nodding.  
"Ok. If you want to know." He says softly, squeezing Nathan's hand in support.

"How about you write it down?" Nathan asks the doctor, grinning.  
"Barry and I can read it together once he unclenches."

"So let me get this straight; we miss two days of community service, and now have all weekend doing fuck all. I'm starting to think those two dicks from the future chased us out of there on purpose! I could get my feelings hurt!" Nathan complained into his phone.

"I don't know that it's possible, mate." Kelly laughed.

"Well maybe not, but it was still rude." Nathan huffed.

"You could always come around here, yeah? We'll have a drink?" Kelly offers indifferently.

"Now that sounds like a plan! Ill be right over."

Monday morning Kelly and Nathan stumbled into the locker room together, both wearing dark sunglasses and far too hung over.

"Hey." Some hippy fuck grinned at them, the probation worker walking in after him.

"Who's the new guy?" Curtis asks, glossing over Nathan and Kelly's state after a brief look.

"What's your name again?" The probation worker asked the hippy, clearly uninterested.

"It's Ollie." The hippy said, a little hurt.

"Are you saying he's a new member of the gang?" Nathan asks, whipping his sunglasses off dramatically, and squinting at the new guy.

"Whatever, just piss off and pick up some litter." The probation worker scoffs.

"I don't trust him." Nathan whispers to Kelly, once they had gotten a moment away.

"We don't even know him." Kelly shrugs.

"Did you see that rainbow pin?" Nathan continues, conspiring.

"Uh, it was a peace sign."

"A rainbow peace sign! He's gonna try to cozy up to Simon, get him all gay before I even have the chance!" Nathan huffs.  
'It's just like when that shapeshifting bitch gave him that blowjob,'

"Nathan, just cause he hooks up with someone, doesn't mean he's gonna marry them. In the future you two love each other. I saw it myself, so relax, yeah?" Kelly says, both comfortingly, and just tired of his shit.

"You think they're going to hook up?" Nathan almost squeaks back.

"The others are coming." Kelly replies, rolling her eyes.

"Ok, whatever we do, we can't let the new guy know about our powers." Curtis tells them as the group huddled up.

"Well what do we do if he finds out?" Kelly asks.

"We kill him." Simon jokes.  
"I'm joking." He clarified. And Nathan laughs.

"Oh you're making jokes now? Excuse us." Nathan tells the others before putting his arm over Simon's shoulder and leaning just slightly away from the others.  
"You're creeping out of your weird little shell, I get that! Good for you! But let's get one thing straight, I'm the funny guy around here." Nathan tells him, leaning into his space a little more.

"He's coming." Alisha warns quietly.

"Hey." The hippy says.

"What did you get done in for?" Kelly asks.

"I was arrested for vandalizing a power station; we were protesting against CO2 emissions." He says proudly. Nathan groans loudly, drawing it out lengthily, and giving the hippy an unamused, almost challenging stare. It's quiet for a long moment.  
"Have any of you got one of these weird powers?" The hippy asks. The group all objects and scoffs.  
"I'm only asking cause I've got one."

"Well us too." Nathan defends, before his mind catches up to him.  
"Don't think I was suppose to tell you that."

"Alright, what can you do?" Kelly asks.

"I can teleport!" The guy says, a bragging and mystical tone to his voice.

"Well let's see it." Kelly shrugs. The guy groans constipatedly for a minute, before disappearing, leaving only his sandal behind. The group whirls around, Ollie standing just behind them.  
"That's shit. You could have walked there faster." Kelly huffed.

"Well sometimes I go further!" The hippy defends, but the groups already leaving.

The group walked down the street, picking up litter.

"So what do you think?" Nathan asks Kelly quietly.

"I think you're worried over nothing." She huffs back.

"Yeah he's a dull twat, isn't he?" Nathan huffs.

"Does all this get recycled?" The hippy asks, and goes completely ignored. A man runs past, terrified.

"He's fucking crazy!" He yells, pushing past them. A car speeds up, parking in front of them.

"Ah, you think he meant this guy?" Nathan laughs. A guy gets out, staring at them lifelessly for a minute.

"Where's Conti?" He asks, very monotonous.

"Oh that's him; he's a right Cunt-y." Nathan grins, always happy for the excuse to give Simon his attention.

"Did you think I was going to let it go? I want my money." The mad man tells them.

"Well give the man his money." Nathan tells Simon, starting to get a little nervous.

"I-I haven't got your money." Simon stutters out. The mad man's attention turns to Kelly.

"Roxy?" He asks.

"I'm not being funny mate, but you're acting like a right nut." Kelly tells him.

"I think he's suffering from some kind of mental illness," the hippy starts.

"I want my money." The mad man reiterated.

"Let me talk to him" the hippy smiles, stepping towards the man.

"Don't, just leave it." Alisha huffs.

"It's ok, I've had some training in conflict resolution." The hippy says confidently.

"Well this should be entertaining." Nathan grinned, slapping Simon's arm playfully.

"What's your name?" The hippy starts gently.  
"It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you." He smiles. The man considers him briefly before pulling out a gun, and shooting the hippy in the head. The group screams, and scatters. 

Simon and Nathan laid side by side on the roof of the community center, separated from the others somewhere along the way. The two looked at each other, bloodstained. Nathan looked away first, looking to the sky. He had to protect Simon. He had to be the one to make a move. He flipped over, starting to army crawl lowly towards the edge.

"Nathan," Simon whispered to him urgently. Nathan waved behind him, silencing him for the moment. Nathan peered over the edge. The mad man turned the corner, and Nathan hid again quickly. He waited a minute before peering over again.

"He's leaving." Nathan says quietly, relief flooding his breath.  
"Oh hey! It's the new guy, he's ok!" Nathan told him, sitting up more and waving at the guy. The hippy flips him off, sulking on the bench.

"Where?" Simon asks, moving to sit next to Nathan.

"He's right there, on the bench. Hippy fuck just flipped me off." Nathan huffed, sending the hippy the same gesture.

"Nathan," Simon says quietly, putting a hand on Nathan's shoulder. Nathan looks at him, seeing the worry on his bloodstained face.  
"There's no one on the bench." Simon tells him. Nathan looks back over and... he was right. There was no one there.  
"Ollie died. Right in front of us." Simon continues.

"Huh. I could have sworn." Nathan replied, distracted.

"Nathan are you ok-"

"Whelp! Better him than me." Nathan grinned.

"You're immortal." Simon frowned.

"Better him than you." Nathan replied effortlessly, a soft smile on his face.

"We-we should text the others, make sure they're ok." Simon stutters weakly.

"Yeah, alright." Nathan shrugged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So im definitely taking a break, but I'm still sort of writing, so it won't be months and months like last time. Thank you guys so much for keeping me going on this fic, I'm so glad you've enjoyed it enough to read thirty-one fucking chapters lol. See you guys soon


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. About it not being months.... Lol, I got sucked into another fandom, and am honestly still 100% on that train right now, but I figured I'd post what I've written for this fic and give this brief update.

"There's still something I don't understand." Nathan says, his Simon on one side, and his brother on the other. Nathan had transformed into girl mode yesterday, and was hoping to keep it up until after the birth.  
"Your mom has this amazing house, but you stayed at the community center with me?" 

"Well your staying here with me now, yeah? I was there to see you, only made sense." Jamie shrugs.

"He's trying to say thank you." Simon smiles, enjoying the lazy bonding night. 

"Back at ya." Jamie smirks.  
"You want to watch Alien next?" Jamie asks, glad for the sincere moment, but happy not to settle on it.

"I don't know, what's it about?" Nathan asks, and Simon chuckles lightly, putting his arm around Nathan's waist.

"It's about an alien." Jamie laughs.

"It's a space horror." Simon adds, knowing Nathan's distaste for scary movies.

"A classic." Jamie agrees.

"Oof. Well what the hell. You both know it so well, I might as well see what it's about." Nathan shrugs, cuddling up to Simon a little more as Jamie sets it up.

The rest of the group met in Seth and Kelly's flat the next morning, each apprehensive at the task ahead of them.

"We should take out the lunatic before he makes another move."

"Nikki teleports in while were on those hooks, that's gotta be important to the timeline." Curtis argues.

"So we ambush him there." Nikki adds.

"No, it's simple, we just have to get Seth to give Simon Nathan's immortality." Alisha says, holding her Simon's arm in support. Her Simon is pensive, quiet.

"How we suppose to do that when he's off seeing his brother?" Curtis huffs.

"He's not going to be back in time." Kelly agrees.  
"We need another plan."

"This is stupid, how many super powers do we have between us? We can save him!" Alisha huffs, tears pricking at her eyes.

"You're not suppose to save me." Simon argues quietly.

"Shut up, we're going to save you." Kelly tells him definitively. 

"The police want witness statements off all of you. Try not to screw it up, yeah? I don't need them on my back." The probation worker tells them.

"Is that it?" Kelly huffs.

"Aren't you going to at least pretend to be a little bit sad?" Alisha accuses.

"Do you know how much paper work's involved when someone gets shot during community service? So sure, we're all very sad. There it is."

"It's a cruel senseless waste." Nathan starts, quieting the others.  
"A young man, taken from us in his prime. Leaving us to pick up the pieces of our shattered lives; knowing that he's gone forever. So maybe, we should have the rest of the week off. You know, to cry, and grieve. And remember our dear friend-" Nathan stopped short, snapping towards Simon as he tried to remember.

"Ollie." Simon gave him.

"Ollie! Dear beautiful Ollie!" Nathan grinned. The probation worker sighed.

"You can take the day. God knows I need the quiet." He huffed, turning back to his papers.

"We should do something." Simon tells them, as they get ready to head out.

"Yeah, I'm for a drink." Nathan shrugs. Simon looks around the others in the locker room. 

"About the guy that shot Ollie." He clarified.

"So you're talking about stepping up and taking him down? Us?" Nathan laughs. 

"No, he's right." Alisha huffs.

"Since when did you want to get involved in any of this?" Curtis asks, still sore about their break up.

"Maybe since I got someone's brains blown out all over my face." Alisha replies bluntly.

"If we go up against him, one of us is going to get our brains blown out." Kelly explains strongly.

"We can't just pretend it never happened!" Simon argues back.

"I do it all the time; it's like that guy in the Bible, the Good Samaritan? Just walk on by?" Nathan pitches. 

"So how you gonna feel if we do nothing, then you read in the paper that he shot someone else?" Alisha huffs, slamming her locker behind her.

"Hey, I don't read the paper." Nathan huffs.

"Alright, so what are you two going to do when you find this guy and he sticks a gun to your head?" Curtis asks, going from annoyed, to bordering on worried.  
"Yeah, glad you got it all figured out." 

"It's better than doing nothing!" Alisha bites back.

"No, doing nothing keeps us alive, I'd say that's better!" Curtis argues.

"Hey, hey, guys." Nathan starts.  
"I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we're lazy and incompetent. We're practically handicapped, ok, leave it to the police. They get paid to get shot." Nathan huffs.

"Never thought I'd say this," Curtis huffs.  
"But he's making sense."

"Thank you. I mean we're already doing our part for the community, right? So let's get a pint, gather around the table at the pub, and together, as a group, get sloshed. I'd say we've earned it." Nathan suggests, flourishing his arms to the group.

"Nah, not exactly in the mood to celebrate." Curtis scoffs.

"Yeah. I'm headed home." Alisha sighs. 

"Ok, Barry? Kelly?" Nathan asks, pouting a little. Kelly huffs.

"Yeah alright." She shrugs.  
"You coming Simon?" 

"I-yeah, sure." He smiles weakly. 

"Just everyone-" Alisha sighs.  
"Anyone sees that guy again, let everyone know, yeah?" She asks. 

"We will." Simon's tells her. And Nathan's not jealous. He's so very not jealous that he's quiet the whole walk to the pub, lost in his thoughts about how he can possibly take out this guy single handedly to impress Simon. That's how not jealous he is. Kelly and Simon are talking here and there, and Simon keeps looking between the two of them nervously.

'Is Nathan ok?' Simon thinks to Kelly. Kelly rolls her eyes.

"Nathan you alright?" She asks. Nathan's not even listening.  
"He's fine." She huffs. The three take up the groups usual table, and Kelly offers to grab their drinks.

"So let's say, hypothetically, that I'd be willing to play a part in this little plan of yours." Nathan starts, watching Simon consideringly.

"My...plan?" Simon asks, genuinely confused.

"Yeah, you're always the one with the plans, you're good at this stuff." Nathan scoffs.

"You're talking about taking down that guy?" Simon asks, almost smiling.

"Hypothetically!" Nathan argues, pointing at Simon seriously. Simon watched him for a second.

"Hypothetically, you'd be the distraction." Simon tells him.

"And Alisha?" Nathan asks, still not jealous.

"I'm glad Alisha wants to help, but if we're going to go up against someone so dangerous, it should be me and you. You provoke him, lead him somewhere private, and I sneak up on him while invisible." Simon explains, leaning across the table.  
"He could easily kill any of us, but I need him to be distracted by someone if I'm going to kill him. You're the safest plan." 

"So Simon and Nathan; crime fighters, huh?" Nathan almost flirts. Simon laughs, blushing a little at the use of his name.

"If you're up for it." Simon smiles softly.

"No." Kelly tells them as she sets down their drinks.

"Kel!" Nathan complains.

"No ones doing anything; we don't know what this lunatic's deal is, or if he has a power. We're staying out of it." She huffs. A moment passes before Nathan shrugs.

"Fine." Nathan says, before taking a large swig.

"I'm not going to let you die." Alisha tells her Simon, the two of them cuddled up in their flat.

"It's ok, Alisha." Simon sighs.

"Uh, no. It's not ok. I love you." She nearly pleads, sitting up to better look at him.

"The others will try to interfere, I know. But tomorrow I'm going to give our younger selves the key they need, and then I'm going to that warehouse, to intercept that bullet." Simon tells her softly.

"Well we'll just have to make sure he isn't there to shoot you." Alisha huffs.

"I've got a plan." Seth tells Kelly the next morning.  
"But it's not a great one." He sighs.  
"We'll just have to make sure everyone meets up at the warehouse before it all goes down."

"The guy with the red car and the gun.." Alisha starts, waking towards the others in a daze.

"Hey, we were just talking about him." Nathan replies easily.

"He's got Kelly." She sobs.

"Oh Jesus; he's gonna shoot her; he's gonna kill her! Barry, do something!" Nathan freaks out. The doors of the community center fly open, and a man sprints towards them.

"Sorry, no time, I need to borrow your power!" Seth tells them, out of breath as he places his hand on Nathan's arm. A ring of light travels to him, and he pushes past them.  
"Don't die! I'll bring it back afterwards!" Seth yells back to them as he runs out.

"My-did he just take my immortality?! Hey!" Nathan asks, stumbling to run after the man. The group runs, but stops at the echoing yell of "Conti!" they all stop dead in their tracks.

"He's here." Curtis breathes out.

"What are we going to do?" Alisha asks, her and Nathan watching Simon pleadingly. They slowly follow the sound, until they find themselves in one of the storage closets. A video game playing in front of them.

"He's living the game." Simon explains aloud.

"Where did all this come from?" Curtis asks, and Simon picks up the game case.

"It's the guy in the mask, it has to be." Alisha says softly.

"This is all well and good, but what about the man who just stole my immortality?" Nathan asks, plopping in the chair, and absently picking up the game controller.

"Maybe he's working with the guy in the mask. He said he'd bring it back." Simon offers, still reading the game case.  
"Jimmy Cisco; he spent ten years in prison for armed robbery. His lover and his crime boss, Conti, they double cross him on his wedding day." Simon reads.

"Hey watch me run over this fat bloke. Run fat boy, run!" Nathan laughs.

"We need to play the game for real; if we give him his money, I think he'll let Kelly go." Simon tells them.

"So all we need now is a hundred grand?" Alisha scoffs.

"We could rob a bank." Simon suggests.

"We'll need a car." Curtis agrees.

"Yeah, ok, lets rob a bank." Nathan shrugs.

"What's that?" The probation worker asks, leaning in the doorframe.

"Nothing." Alisha is quick to deny.

"That's funny, isn't it? Because to me it sounded like you were planning on robbing a bank." He looked at each of them.

"No, no, I said let's all have a wank. You know. Communal masterbation; the great circle jerk." Nathan covers best he can. The others give him a judgmental look, and a quiet moment passes.

"Go wash my car." The probation worker tells them, offering his keys.

"I don't think washing your car was what they had in mind when they gave us community service." Nathan scoffed, going back to the game.

"The man wants his car washed." Curtis tells him.

"He's giving us his keys, so we can wash his car." Alisha explains.

"For fucks sake." Curtis huffs, taking the offered keys, and leading the way out.

"So what's the plan?" Alisha asks from the front seat, the four of them parked a short distance from the bank's security van.

"I turn invisible, I walk up to the security van, and I take the money." Simon explains, trying to calm his adrenaline.

"Works for me." Curtis shrugs, one hand still on the wheel.

"Right, keep the engine running, just in case he gets caught." Nathan nods, a little nervous himself. Simon takes a deep breath, before turning invisible, and letting himself out. The group waits anxiously, before Nathan reaches up, leaning between Alisha and Curtis to fuck with the radio. 

"Nathan, stop fucking around." Alisha huffs, leaning away from him.

"Turn it off you prick!" Curtis almost yells, smacking Nathan away and shutting off the music. Nathan slumps back to the back seat.

"Sorry." He huffs, looking back towards the security van.  
"Where is he?" Nathan continues.

"He should have been back by now." Alisha adds, equally concerned. The back door opens, and closes, and Simon is appearing next to Nathan, metal briefcase on his lap.

"Fuck." Nathan exclaimed.

"How was it?" Curtis asks nervously.

"Very easy." Simon replies, patting his hair down.

"I could kiss you." Nathan tells him.

"Whatever let's get this over with." Curtis huffs, pulling the car out.


	33. Chapter 33

"Nice one." Kelly huffs, the other four hanging on either side of her.  
"Brilliant fucking rescue." 

"No chance of a rewind then, huh?" Nathan asks. Curtis just scoffs.  
"Yeah, didn't think so." Nathan takes a deep breath, before attempting to swing himself back and forward.  
"Oh yeah! Here we go! Just need a little more momentum!" Nathan swings into Simon, wrapping his legs around him, trying to climb him.

"Fuck off," Simon hisses, only half conscious. Someone teleports in, crashing through some barrels in the corner. She looks around, looking at them in confusion.

"Why're you hanging from meat hooks?" She asks.

"This is some of the weird shit I was telling you about." Curtis huffs.

The future group stood outside the warehouse, as Seth went over the plan.  
"We'll split up, Curtis and I will watch the door. Kelly and Nikki will try to take down the guy before he gets to the younger Alisha-"

"I don't have time for this, do whatever you want." The future Simon huffs.

"Wait!" Seth pushes past, holding Simon's arm briefly.  
"Good luck." 

"You too." Simon sighs, and walks off, Alisha following behind him.

"You gave it to him?" Kelly asks.

"Yeah. Let's just try to keep that a last resort." Seth shrugs tensely. 

"Did I miss something?" Curtis asks.

"We gave him Nathan's immortality." Kelly huffs.

"Go make sure he doesn't need it." Seth tells her, meeting half way for a good luck kiss.

"Die you Nazi Bastard!!" Nathan yelled out as he and Jamie co-opted one of Jamie's video games.

"If you climb on the roof over here you can break into a secret room for the collectible." Jamie tells him.

"I hope the others are ok." Simon sighs, not enjoying the video game theme knowing that the video game lunatic was probably still on his rampage.

"We should give them a call." Nathan suggests.

"I don't think our phones will work here." Simon sighs. Nathan dramatically pulls his phone out of his pocket, calling Kelly.

The madman picks up his chainsaw, starting it up on the first try.

"Shit." Kelly swears quietly. Her phone starts ringing in her pocket, under the wedding dress. It draws the confused attention of the mad man for a moment. He seems to reboot a little, ignoring the sound.

"Well, no answer, but it rang, so ha! Phone works just fine." Nathan smirked, standing up to stretch.  
"Any one else craving onion rings?" Nathan asks, before his water broke.  
"Shit, I'm pissing myself!" He panics.

"Car! Jamie! Hospital!" Simon stutters out, taking Nathan's hand, and already leading him out.

"Your first, Conti." The madman says, lowering Simon down. Simon struggles, but the man holds him firmly.

"Wait!" Nathan tells out, fear pounding through his veins.  
"I'm the undercover cop! Ok!" He pleads. The madman considers him for a minute, letting his saw die down.

"Nathan don't! Your not immortal!" Simon hisses out, still fighting the mans grip.

"Oi!" Curtis huffed, kicking the man square in the jaw.  
"Run, Simon!" He yelled, and Simon was running before he could process it. The gunman was so close; if he could get away for just a few seconds he could turn invisible 

"Why are you doing this? Why won't you help us save you?" Alisha pleaded, arguing quietly with her Simon on the rooftop.

"Because this is how it's meant to be! I'm suppose to die, and you were suppose to fall in love with me. You were never suppose to be here! You should have been with him!"

"It's not the same! I don't want Nathan's Simon, I want you!" Alisha pleads with him.

"Nathan's Simon," future Simon huffed humorlessly.  
"We're the same person."

"But you're not!" Alisha assures him.

"We are! He is me! It doesn't matter what memories we have from what timelines, he and I are the same man!"

"What does it matter? Why is this so important to you?" Alisha asks, voice softening.

"Because if he's not the same man as I am, then I'm not the man you fell in love with!" Simon bites out; the silence after hitting deeply. A moment passes.

"But you are. You're just like I remember." Alisha tells him softly.

"You're not how I remember." Simon replies, just as softly, but tense, distant.  
"If he and I aren't the same person, than that means you're not the Alisha I knew. It means you and the others arriving here was the first time we've met. It means the woman I love is dead; and there's nothing I can do to change that." A minute passes between them, before Simon's watch starts beeping.  
"We're out of time." Simon smiles at her sadly, before jumping down off the roof, landing right between the intended target, and the man pulling the trigger.

"No!" Alisha screams, jumping down after her Simon. He was already down, shot in the head this time. Alisha looked over, tears spilling down her face at the now cracked and broken mask. The younger Simon looked on in horror as Alisha felt the flames breathing out from her skin. The man with the gun was staring at her, glitching maybe. It didn't matter. Alisha let the flames spread out from her as she walked towards the man. He wouldn't get away this time. She surrounded him in flames, and in the heat he crumpled and screamed; Alisha looking on apathetically. The fire was all around her, but it was hers, it wouldn't burn her.

The young Simon nearly tripped over himself as he rushed to free the others.

"We need to leave! The place is on fire!" He managed to tell them, lowering the chains, and leading the group out into the street. 

"We should go, that guy-" Kelly started, trembling a little.

"He's dead." Simon told her instantly, but his eyes were stuck on the flaming warehouse, and his mind still trying to process what exactly he had seen.

"Still, cops and all that." Nathan said softly, putting his hand gently on Simon's arm.


End file.
